


The Life and Times of Charlotte Amelia Hudson

by Dananickerson82



Category: Glee
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-20
Updated: 2020-09-20
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:13:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 65
Words: 72,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26564923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dananickerson82/pseuds/Dananickerson82
Summary: AU: Finn lives. What would could have happened if the baby did turn out to be Finn's. Follow Finn's journey from November of Sophomore year through to the end of college.
Relationships: Finn Hudson/Santana Lopez
Kudos: 9





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Just a heads up. These chapters are written more like snippets for the month. Some are long, some are short. I am happy to answer any questions that might not have gotten answered in this story. The story is written in its entirety, so I am not going to be changing any details unless there is a continuity problem. But I hope you enjoy this story.   
> I will say, I know that Finn is dead in the series, obviously this is AU, and the way I think my story should go. Please don’t read it if this topic or pairing is upsetting, because I don’t appreciate reviews that tell me I’m a horrible person for writing a ‘ship that they don’t like. Otherwise, enjoy!

**Chapter 1**

**November – sophomore year – age 16**

Finn Hudson was a fairly typical, mid-western, high school sophomore. He was tall, pretty well built for his age, not bad on the eyes, and, underneath his jock exterior, was smarter than he let on. Finn played varsity quarterback for the football team of William McKinnley High School. He was currently dating the head cheerleader, and fellow sophomore, Quinn Fabray; and what a striking couple they made together. This was what was expected of him. There were no real demands on him, especially since his teachers let his work slide a little bit because of his sports status. Life couldn’t have been going any better for him... or so he thought. Life was full of highs that he really enjoyed, but he was about to experience some lows like he never imagined he would have to suffer.

It had been October when Quinn Fabray told him she was pregnant with his child. Granted, this was **really** shocking news, but Finn was secretly a little bit pleased. This thought of a little boy who looked like him, who he could teach how to play football, or a little girl who looked like Quinn and would wrap her Daddy around her little fingers had him all giddy inside. He wouldn’t have guessed that this moment would have come while he was still so young himself, but he did want kids; more than likely in the future. But this little image Finn had conjured in his imagination would come crashing down around his ears. Quinn decided all on her own that they would be putting the baby up for adoption, Finn nearly fell to the floor. He managed to keep himself together enough until he walked home; albeit, he looked like a zombie by the way he was walking, but not losing control enough for people to stop him and wonder why. Carol was home on her day off when she saw her son come inside and practically collapse onto the couch.

“Finn?!” Carol called out worriedly. She dropped the hand towel she was using to dry her dishes and ran over to where Finn was bent double on the couch, hyperventilating. Carol honestly thought there was physically something wrong with her son by his outward behavior. When she realized that he was just crying into his hands, she took an intuitive leap that something that would have to do with Quinn and the baby. Carol was still trying to fully wrap her head around the fact that Quinn was pregnant, but from what she could tell, Finn was stepping up and try to make things work out. “Finn, baby, what’s the matter?” It took a few minutes for Finn to pull himself together enough to speak. Even then his voice was thick with emotion. 

“She’s giving the baby up,” Finn said, monotone. “She just wants to give away my baby.”

“Quinn told you that she’s giving up the baby?” Carol said, in shock... not her grandbaby. “Did you two at least talk this over?”

“No,” Finn said angrily, roughly brushing tears away from his face. He was pissed off at Quinn, and pissed that he was crying in front of his mother. That just wasn’t something he wanted to do, but it was also something that he couldn’t quite control at this particular moment. “She just told me that she’s getting rid of the thing that’s going to make her look like a whale, since she’s against abortion, and it’s too late to do that anyway.”

“Quinn has no right to make that kind of decision by herself,” Carol said quietly, rubbing Finn’s back soothingly. While Carol wasn’t exactly thrilled at the fact that Finn got his girlfriend pregnant at 16, she was secretly in love with her future grandchild already. She could feel the tears stinging at her own eyes at this outrageous news. Carol was quietly seething with anger at the blonde cheerleader.

“I know I’m only 16, but I know that I can do this. I can take care of this baby. I don’t ever want that baby to grow up and think that I’ve never cared about them, that I never loved them.”

“You really want this?” Carol asked, leaning back to look at her son’s face. He was blotchy from crying but his face held such determination.

“I’ve never wanted anything more than this,” Finn said, looking at his mother with sheer determination in his eyes. “I want to keep this baby more than I want to meet Dad.” This struck quite a chord with Carol. He always wanted to have met his Dad. Christopher died when Finn was only a few weeks old. For him to want something more was well and truly serious.

“Then I’m calling you out sick tomorrow. We are going to the Department of Youth and Family Services to see what your options are,” Carol said definitively. She knew Finn was a good kid, and not only because he was her son. Mistakes happen. He wanted to take responsibility for his actions. This was the best way he knew how. Even as a small child, Finn was far more demonstrative when it came to fixing things. He would help someone up from off the ground before being reminded to apologize; that thought made her internally smile.

“Thank you so much!” Finn cried, nearly knocking his mother over with the force of his hug. When Carol went back to the kitchen to start making dinner, Finn took out a notebook and pen.

  1. Talk to DYFS worker
  2. Talk to teachers about grades
  3. Talk to Sue Sylvester and Coach Beiste for help
  4. Get a job



Not bad for a basic to do list to get him started in the right direction. He flipped to the next page and wrote out a journal entry of sorts. He wanted to remember all the weird things that Quinn did throughout this pregnancy, in case it helped him down the road. Carol looked on from the kitchen, very proud of her son today. Finn then went over to the desk top computer that was set up in the ‘office’ type extension of their living room. Carol had set it up for him when he hit high school.

Finn logged on to Facebook and found the page of Kurt Hummel. He knew that Kurt’s Dad owned the car service center in town. Maybe he could get trained there and have somewhat of a stable job.

 **From Finn Hudson:** Hey

 **From Kurt Hummel:** What do you want?

 **From Finn Hudson:** I need your help.

 **From Kurt Hummel:** Again I ask, what do you want?

 **From Finn Hudson:** Would you and your Dad come to dinner at my house tomorrow? It’s easier to explain everything in person. And I won’t be in school tomorrow dude.

 **From Kurt Hummel:** Don’t call me dude! And I’ll ask. This had better not be a joke again.

 **From Finn Hudson:** Cool, and sorry about the dude.

Finn looked at his computer and saw his mother watching him. “Hey Mom, I kinda invited someone to dinner tomorrow.”

“Tell Quinn I don’t have any salad left,” Carol said drolly. It was abundantly clear that Carol no longer felt the need to be even remotely nice about or to Quinn. This was something that she felt was unable to get past.

“Not Quinn, Kurt Hummel and his Dad,” Finn said. “Burt has the car place in town. It would be a good place to start looking for a job.”

“I never would have thought about asking Burt for a job,” Carol said, her eyes widening slightly. Finn was really thinking about jobs and it made her feel like a proud momma.

“Yeah, and honestly, I need someone like Kurt on my side. He can see things about Quinn that I wouldn’t be able to,” Finn reasoned. “And I need to apologize for all the stuff we did to him last year.”

“It will be no problem for them to come over,” Carol said. “Be sure to ask Kurt if either one of them have any food allergies.”

“I will,” Finn said, looking back to check if Kurt replied back.

 **From Kurt Hummel:** My Dad and I accept your invitation. What time?

 **From Finn Hudson:** 7 ok? And do either of you guys have any food allergies?

 **From Kurt Hummel:** None that we know of. Thank you for the invitation. Why won’t you be in school tomorrow?

 **From Finn Hudson:** It’s nothing bad, I promise. But I’ll explain it all when you come over.

 **From Kurt Hummel:** Okay, good night.

_Kurt Hummel is offline_

“Finn, honey, dinner’s ready!” Carol called from the kitchen. Finn logged off Facebook and joined his mom.

“Kurt accepted. Dinner at 7 tomorrow,” Finn said as they ate the fish that Carol had steamed up.

“Good. We’ll pick up something at the store on the way home tomorrow,” Carol decided. “What else is on that list of yours?”

“Well, I need to talk to my teachers, so I can get my grades up,” Finn began. “I figure it couldn’t hurt. I should get some help from Coach Sylvester and Coach Beiste.”

“That’s definitely a good idea,” Carol said, smiling. “I will help you in whatever way I can.”

“Thanks Mom,” Finn said, smiling in return.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Carol and Finn got up early for breakfast the next day. Finn cooked the food while Carol called him out of school. They drove the half hour to the DYFS building. Since they got there early, someone was able to meet with them right away. They were directed to an office down the hall from the reception area. The door was still open and its’ occupant was getting her desk ready for the day.

“Hi there, I’m Wende Hench, what can I help you with today?” A young, sharply dressed, black woman greeted them. Carol nudged Finn to begin. He looked extremely nervous.

“I have some custody questions,” he began, his nerves penetrating his speech.

“Okay, why don’t you tell me what’s going on?” She got out her notebook and a pen. There was a small smile on her face, trying to put him at ease, and it was kind of working.

“Well, my name is Finn Hudson. I’m 16 and my girlfriend is pregnant. She is due in March some time. She just told me that she wants to give the baby away. She just wants to go back to being popular.”

“Did she say that, or is she just trying to be realistic about being 16 and pregnant?” Wende asked. She didn’t want to seem mean, but she needed all of the facts, not just misconstrued conversations. She also needed to ask some hard questions to get the whole picture.

“No, she said that,” Finn said earnestly. He pulled out the notebook he had started last night. “She said she didn’t want this F***ing baby. It was already ruining her life because everyone thought she looked like a whale already.” Wende peered over at the notebook, quirking her eyebrow. This simple act impressed her beyond her initial observations of the young man.

“Okay, the next couple of questions I’m going to ask, they may seem pretty personal, but the answers might help you,” Wende prompted, hopefully encouraging truth with her tone. Finn nodded. “Did you use contraception when you had sex?”

“I used a condom, and she said she was taking care of it on her end, but little did I know that she was just praying that she didn’t get pregnant,” Finn grunted. He was genuinely pissed off at himself that he had taken her at her word for the extra protection. He knew that he did what he needed to do, but he was still a teenage boy. Finn knew that sex could lead to a child and that condoms weren’t totally preventative, but he never figured that it wouldn’t have worked.

“Again, I need to ask this question,” Wende began. “I need to know if this was a consensual sexual encounter, on either part.”

“Well, she is the captain of the celibacy club, but everyone knew that she wasn’t celibate,” Finn started. “That could go against us, but she was the one that pretty much brow beat me into it. Not that it was too hard, because I am a teenage boy, but still, it was mainly her idea. We were dating because that’s what was expected of us. She made captain of the Cheerios – that’s our cheerleading squad – and I am the starting quarterback of the football team. So she came on to me, and I thought it was because she genuinely liked me, but I was wrong. She was dating me to get popular. And now that she’s pregnant, I’m sure that she will try and come up with anything to keep this baby from me. She’s been very vindictive lately.”

“And you want custody? That’s a huge responsibility.” Wende pointed out. Not all young people realized what a big sacrifice it was to have a child at that age. But there was something about this kid that struck Wende; a gut feeling of sorts.

“I haven’t wanted anything more in my life that I do now. I know I’m young, and this wasn’t exactly planned, but I’m already turning my life upside down for this baby. That’s why we are meeting with you. I need to be able to get custody. She will go crazy if she finds out, just to keep the baby away from me.”

“I see here you are looking for a job,” Wende said, smiling on the inside at this young man’s determination. His notebook was just his simple to do list, and a few stories about Quinn, but it was nothing if not a thorough start. Not many men came in here for custody and none of them were this prepared.

“I’m actually working on that tonight. My friends’ Dad owns a car service center. I figured that if I start working now, I can pick up some skills and make some money before the baby is born.”

“That’s definitely a good start,” Wende agreed. She made a few more notes in her notebook and smiled while doing so.

“And I’m gonna talk to my teachers and have help getting my grades up. I’m actually really going to try,” Finn said.

“I’m glad to hear that,” she said. “You’re gonna need a job, do well in school, start looking into child care. I also would like for you to keep this notebook. If your girlfriend is as, for lack of a better word, unstable, as you say she is, then that will only help you down the road.”

“I was going to do that anyway,” Finn said. “I’m honestly trying to keep up appearances with her. She isn’t the person I started dating last year.”

“I am certainly glad that you’re being proactive about this,” Wende said. “Keep recording her actions as well as what you’ve planned. I would certainly like to stay in touch with you, Finn. Once a month if possible. Here is my card, I’m here Monday thru Friday, from 9-5, and my personal cellphone number is on the back. When the time gets closer for your girlfriend to give birth, we will be talking much more frequently. I suspect then we will have to get a family lawyer involved, and get the ball rolling from there.”

“Thank you so much, Ms. Hench,” Finn said, a big smile on his face. He stood up and shook her hand in gratitude. Wende knew deep down in her gut that Finn Hudson was going to have things work out in his favor; it would be her personal mission to help him out as much as she can. As soon as they left, she got on the phone to her college friend, Samantha Carter, esq.

“Hey, Sam, how are you?” Wende began, a smile on her face. Things were looking up.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Carol was quite satisfied about their visit. They had some answers as well as some homework. When they got back home, Finn emailed his teachers, asking to meet with them after school tomorrow. He also asked to meet with Coach Beiste and Coach Sylvester during his study hall in either one of their offices. Sue responded almost immediately, and letting him know to use her office. While Sue Sylvester was quite tough and mean outwardly, she was a formidable ally when she was really needed. But when you do ask for help, you have to sign a confidentiality contract; she doesn’t want her rep ruined.

Finn recorded the meeting with Wende Hench in the notebook. Better safe than sorry when dealing with a crazy pregnant cheerleader. Less certainly wasn’t more in Quinn’s case. Carol was busy starting their pot roast for dinner. It would take a few hours to cook down in the crock pot.

“What’s got you so busy over there Finn?” Carol asked, drying her hands off with a towel.

“E-mailing my teachers. I need to meet to talk about getting my grades up. And Coach Sylvester already agreed to meet me tomorrow at study hall.”

“That’s good. She’s the scary one right?” Carol questioned.

“Yeah, but remember when I hurt my leg in the game last year?” Finn asked. “She was the one to get me all better by the next week.”

“I hope she’ll be able to help you,” Carol said. “So which classes did you email?”

“Ms. Pennett for English, Mr. Key for history, Mrs. Black for maths, Mr. Bob for science, Sylvester, Beiste, and Schue. They should know as well.”

“That’s good.”

“I don’t honestly think I cared this much about school until today.”

“I’m really glad you are now thought,” Carol said pointedly. “I hope that it will get you into a good college and make a career for yourself.”

“I’m gonna go to college?” Finn asked, his inner child coming out to ask, as he felt truly insecure about this.

“I hope so, and I’ll do everything in my power to help you go.”

“I never really thought about college honestly,” Finn said pensively. “I thought I might go for football or something, but not for something to actually do with my life.”

“That’s something you’re gonna need to think about then,” Carol said.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Finn answered the door bell when it rang around dinner time. Burt and Kurt had arrived for dinner. “Hey, Mr. Hummel, Kurt, thanks for coming,” he greeted, shaking their hands.

“Thanks for having us over kid,” Burt said with a smile on his face. Kurt was still slightly skeptical of the reason they were here but he was just going to go along with it. “Carol.”

“Hi Burt, thanks for coming,” Carol replied. Burt grabbed her hand and pressed a kiss to the back of it. Kurt perked up. Carol was single, and so was Burt. This couldn’t have been the reason Finn invited them over, but that didn’t mean Kurt couldn’t use this as an advantage point. “Ohhh, you charmer.”

“Nah. Oh, I brought this for us,” Burt said, pulling the bottle of wine from his inner jacket pocket.

“Thank you!” Carol said, delighted. She put it in the fridge to chill for a bit. “Dinner is almost ready. So if you want to grab a seat at the table, I’ll get started getting everything out.” Finn helped his mom out and dinner soon came together.

“So, Finn, what’s all this secrecy about?” Kurt asked, about halfway through the meal.

“Well, you can’t tell anyone, and I mean anyone,” Finn began. Kurt nodded in acceptance. “Quinn is pregnant.”

“Are you kidding?!” Kurt gasped, letting his cutlery fall to the table with a clatter. “The president of the celibacy club is pregnant?”

“Yeah, it’s not like we did it on purpose,” Finn said, feeling compelled to defend himself.

“I kinda figured that,” Kurt said soothingly. “But I’m kinda confused as to where we come into the picture.”

“Well, Mr. Hummel,” Finn turned to address the man. “I was going to see if I could get an after school job. I mean, I want to keep this baby, no matter what. And I like cars, I think they are fascinating. I’ve always wanted to learn about them. I was wondering if you would hire me on.”

“It takes a lot of guts to man up like you are, Finn,” Burt said. “I will certainly take you on. You’ll need to train for a few weeks. But then you’ll be working for real. How does that sound?”

“You have no idea how much that means to me Mr. Hummel,” Finn said; he stood up and shook Burt’s hand.

“I’m just glad you’re trying to be responsible about things. And call me Burt.”

“Thanks Burt,” Finn said. “I have appointments with some teachers tomorrow about helping me with my grades. Mom and I went to the social services offices today and looked at my options. I really want to do this.”

“That’s probably the best thing you have ever said,” Kurt said. “I’ll help you whenever I can.”

“Thanks Kurt, it really means a lot that you guys aren’t yelling at me and stuff,” Finn sighed.

“Well, we could tell you all about poor choices and responsibility, but you know all about it,” Carol said. “Finn and I already talked about this and I felt that he has the best intentions. He has a plan and I am going to support him.”

“This really gives me hope about this generation of kids,” Burt said. With another weight off his shoulders, Finn was able to enjoy his dinner. He has a new friend, and a job opportunity. Overall…not a bad two days. Now he had to face his teachers at school.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 Tackling the Teachers**

Going back to school came with mixed feelings for Finn. He wanted to talk to the teachers, but it was also difficult seeing Quinn. She was well and truly crazy now. On some level, he did still love her bit, but how she was behaving and acting toward him was troubling. He carried his ‘Quinn is Crazy’ notebook in his book bag at all time, just in case.

“Hudson!” Sue Sylvester called down the hallway. Finn’s head snapped toward the voice and saw her beckoning him into her office; this made him a bit wary, but he knew that she was on his list of people to talk to. He went over and entered into the inner sanctum of Sue Sylvester. “Sit. I got your email. No one ever voluntarily wants to meet with me. Spill!”

“I find myself in a situation that I’m going to need help getting my grades up and I’m probably going to need homebound tutoring once March rolls around.”

“What on earth are you talking about?” Sue questioned, a note of frustration in her voice.

“Quinn is pregnant and I wanna keep the baby,” Finn said quickly, taking the ‘rip off the Band-Aid’ approach to the situation. Now Sue was a tall woman, and when she was standing over you, it was even more intimidating than if she were standing and almost looking you in the eye.

“You got my Cheerios captain pregnant and you want my help?” Sue was dangerously quietly, the sneer seemingly etched on her face.

“Yes,” Finn said, steeling himself for Sue’s wrath, keeping his eyes locked with hers. His heart was going a mile a minute, waiting for Sue to slice him across the jugular.

“You’ve got some nerve,” Sue said. “But even bigger balls for coming to me. She’s been more vindictive than normal toward the freshman.”

“You’ll help?” Finn asked incredulously. “You’re not going to kill me?”

“Did you practice safe sex?” Sue demanded.

“Yes, but obviously it wasn’t enough,” Finn grumbled, that fact still pissed him off. “Don’t say you’re protecting yourself, when the only thing you’re doing is praying that you don’t get pregnant.”

“Then I can’t be mad at you, but angry at the corporation for their faulty prophylactics,” Sue said. “I’ll get everything set up; you just meet here after football practice.”

“You have my schedule?” Finn asked.

“I can get it easily enough,” Sue said cryptically. “I assume you want this on the down low?”

“Yeah, Quinn just told me two days ago that she wanted to give up the baby. I already met with child and family services. But she is crazy, and I don’t want her to do anything to jeopardize me getting custody.”

“Don’t screw this up!”

“I won’t,” Finn promised.

“Good, get to homeroom, Hudson,” Sue dismissed him. Finn left her office, feeling strangely accomplished but confused at the same time.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Finn went about his day and acted as normal as possible around Quinn and his friends. He told Quinn that he got a job at Burt’s garage and that he was ready to help her in whatever way he could. “You’d better, since you’re the reason we’re in this mess,” she replied snidely before stomping off. He just looked after her, dumbfounded.

“It took a lot more than just me to make this baby,” Finn grumbled to himself. He lied and told Quinn that he had a meeting with Beiste after football practice. He wouldn’t be able to walk her home. Quinn was fairly accepting of this; since cheerleading and football were her life. Finn made his way to Coach Sylvester’s office and she was waiting for him.

“Hudson!” She greeted brusquely. “Health classroom, let’s go. All the teachers are meeting there.”

“Thanks Coach,” Finn nodded and followed her down the hallway to the health classroom. All of his teachers were there, separately working on a binder full of papers. “What did you tell them?”

“That you were going to need help with your grades,” Sue said succinctly. “Turns out you’re not a dummy, just forgetful. You don’t turn in your assignments.”

“I have a pile of assignments here for you that you just haven’t completed,” Mr. Key said. “But your sponsor here was real vague about the reasons for your sudden interest in academia.”

“I have a goal, and my whole situation is kind of complicated. You see, Quinn Fabray is pregnant, and I am the father. Currently this information is not out there for people to know, but I know that I can trust that it won’t leave this room.” Finn began his spiel with the necessary information and trying to get a promise from the rest of the teachers. When the rest of the group slowly nodded at him he continued. “She is against keeping the baby, but that’s not how I feel. I am working toward keeping the baby. I know it sounds crazy, but I needed a sign. This is the sign that I need to get my crap together and do something with my life. I went to family services yesterday to look at my options. It’s definitely possible. I want to get my grades up to help. I’ve already got a job lined up for the rest of the year.”

“Quinn is pregnant?” Mr. Shue asked. His jaw couldn’t quite match up with the way his mouth was hanging open.

“Yes.”

“Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked.

“I’m pretty sure he’s thought about this,” Sue snarked. “He already went to the appropriate places to check and see if it was possible. And I’m involved, you know he is serious.”

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, Mr. Shue, but Quinn is bat shit crazy. I don’t want her to know that I’m going to try to keep the baby. I mentioned it once and she looked like she was about to kill me.”

“I hope everyone can get on board with this plan,” Sue said, staring the rest of her colleagues down. “It’s not many in this new generation who are willing to step up, much less a guy. And this will be kept quiet until Finn here lets us know otherwise. There is also the issue of homebound tutoring once the baby is born.”

“I’m in,” Mr. Key said. Slowly but surely all of Finn’s teachers agreed; Beiste even hugged him, with tears in her eyes. There were a few teachers who weren’t able to do the home bound but quickly offered up some names of students who would be more than willing to go help Finn. Finn jumped on the chance for Artie to come tutor him in science and Dave Karofsky was being offered to tutor math. Schue was the last one to agree. He still wanted to tell Quinn, but when Finn got out his notebook and read some of what Quinn had been doing and saying, he shut right up.

“I feel that I should interject here,” A pip squeak voice said from the back of the room. Miss Pillsbury popped her head up. “I think what you are doing is quite admirable. I also feel like you’re going to need someone to talk to. I’d like to offer my counseling services. Maybe once a week we could meet during your study hall?”

“I’d like that, actually,” Finn said gratefully. It was certainly nice to have one of the teachers that weren’t super intimidating like Sue, on his side.

“Good,” Sue said. “If you have all of your binders of work that needs to be accomplished by Mr. Hudson here. He will get them done as soon as humanly possible and return the binders.”

“Yeah, it should all be done by the end of next week,” Finn agreed. All of the teachers gave him their binders. He headed to his locker to pack his bag with the binders and all the rest of his books. He was going to be on the ball with school work. He walked the five blocks home and dumped his bags at the desk in the living room. He organized his books and began to work on the homework from today.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Carol came home from work to smell chicken baking. Finn was just finishing his work he missed yesterday. “Honey, you cooked dinner?” she asked, coming to kiss the top of his head.

“Well, I’ve been sitting here doing homework, so I figured I would pop some chicken in. The water is on boil for some mac n cheese.”

“That you so much, sweetie,” Carol said. “I’ll finish it from here.” Finn smiled up at her. He had one more assignment and then he could call a break for dinner. Once he was finished, dinner was nearly done. Finn sat at the table and waited for his mom to put finishing touches on the food.

“So, I had a meeting with my teachers today,” Finn said.

“That’s good,” Carol said. “How’d it go?”

“Sue Sylvester really helped me out,” Finn said, serving himself some food. “I have a bunch of work to make up. They are all going to help me get my grades up and will help when I told them about the homebound tutoring.”

“How long do you have to do that work?” Carol asked.

“I told them I would have it done by the end of next week,” Finn replied. “I haven’t gone through it yet, but I thought that was a reasonable amount of time.”

“That seems reasonable, and it’s work since the beginning of the year?” Carol asked. Finn nodded. “Did you start yet?”

“Nah, I had today’s homework and yesterday’s classwork and homework to do,” Finn said. “But there was a general agreement that I’m not dumb, but just forgetful.”

“I’m glad you’re starting to believe it,” Carol chuckled. “Just you make sure you make definite plans for when you need to be at the garage with Burt.”

“Yeah, I’ll call him after we finish dinner.”

Finn managed to set up a schedule with Burt. They were going to meet Mondays, Wednesdays, and either Friday or Saturday – depending on football games. But after football, Finn would be working a lot more. He would go there after school and work until 6 or so. Burt would be teaching him the basics for about two weeks and then he would be able to do basic car maintenance on his own.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 – December – Sophomore Year – Age 16**

Finn had finished all of his work by Tuesday, and all of his teachers seemed quite impressed. He started his internship with Burt and things were going well. He was learning how to give the car its overall check: fluid levels, filters, tire pressure, tire rotation, and oil changes. He trained for two weeks before Burt let him tackle things with his supervision. This would only last a month or so, but Finn was being paid a full salary, the base that he offered. If things went well over the course of that month Finn started to show promise and picked up the skills easily enough, then Burt was going to let him work on his own. Kurt was even becoming his best friend. They would hang out at the garage after school. Kurt mostly worked on paperwork, but he also knew enough to put on his coveralls on and get a little greasy.

So far, Kurt was the only person his age who knew Quinn was pregnant. This fact was eating at Finn. He wanted to tell his friends, the ones he still had anyway. Most of the guys on the football team had stopped talking to him when he started to buckle down for school. The only one who was left – who wasn’t in glee – was Dave Karovsky. He was kind of a bully but he was also wicked smart. Mrs. Black was the one to recommend him for math tutoring when he was going to go out on homebound instruction.

“Hey, Karovsky, how’s it going?” Finn asked. They were the last ones in the locker room.

“Not too bad,” Dave replied. “This English project is killing me though.”

“Which one?”

“Interpreting the scenes from Julius Caesar,” he said, packing up his gym clothes.

“I found a great website for it, I’ll face book it to you if you want,” Finn offered.

“Dude, that’d be awesome,” Dave replied. He looked at Finn, and something was off with the taller guy. “You feeling okay man?”

“Not really, no,” Finn said nervously. “I’ve got a secret and its killing me. I really just want to tell someone.”

“Oh, no man, you’re not gonna tell me you’re homo or something?”

“No, nothing like that,” Finn said quickly, holding his hands up in front of him.

“Good. Don’t go all girly on me, spit it out,” Dave said.

“Quinn’s pregnant,” Finn blurted out.

“What?”

“Yeah, she’s pregnant. She doesn’t want for anyone to know, but it’s going to be getting pretty obvious – sooner rather than later.”

“You knocked up the head cheerleader?” Dave asked incredulously. “It’s called use a condom bro.”

“I did. I’m not that dumb. She said she took care of things on her end too, but I used one just in case.”

“That sucks man,” Dave sympathized. “So what are you going to do? Cause you know she’s straight up crazy now.”

“I know,” Finn said. “Can you keep a secret?”

“Better than you can think,” Dave muttered, thinking of the one big secret he was still harboring.

“I want to keep the baby.”

“And…?” Dave questioned, sensing that there was more to the story.

“She already said we are giving the baby up for adoption” Finn said dejectedly. “But I already met with Ohio Child and Family Services and they are helping me.”

“You’re serious?”

“I work at Hummel’s Tire and Lube. Kurt helped me get a job.”

“That’s cool.” Dave was quite impressed. Finn had never been ambitious. He was lazy and unfocused. This was a whole new Finn Hudson. “If you need help with maths, just let me know.”

“I really appreciate how cool you’re being about this,” Finn said. “I might need your help for maths.”

“Any time bro.”

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

“Why can’t we just tell people? You are starting to show,” Finn pointed out. They were arguing over their secret and it was pissing Finn off. The argument was taking place outside the Glee classroom before class began.

“I don’t want people to know, it’s embarrassing!” Quinn screeched.

“You’re gonna look pretty pregnant when we come back from Christmas break!” As his angry voice got the better of him, Kurt and Mercedes walked up to the room for Glee. Quinn looked pissed. She took off down the hallway, simply to get away from everyone.

“Quinn’s pregnant?” Mercedes asked quietly. Finn nodded. “Wow, I figured she was just stress eating or something.”

“No, she’s due in March.”

“She’s still against telling people I see?” Kurt asked. Finn nodded again.

“You knew about this?” Mercedes questioned Kurt.

“Yes, but I was sworn to secrecy,” he supplied, giving her a hard look.

“I just wanna tell people and get it over with,” Finn said, frustration obvious in his voice. “It’s only going to be worse after winter break. She’s actually due a week after regionals.”

“And what are you two going to do about the baby?”

“Quinn wants to give the baby up for adoption,” Finn said resignedly.

“So, what do you want to do about the baby?” Mercedes asked wisely.

Finn turned to Kurt, silently asking if she could be brought in on the plan. Kurt nodded. “Okay, let’s go in and I’ll tell you, but it’s totally top secret.” The three of them walked into the choir room and over to the furthest seats from the door. “I am planning on keeping the baby. Quinn just doesn’t know it. She’s crazy and I think she might just try to kill me if she finds out. I’ve got a job at Burt’s garage and I’m getting my grades up. The Children’s services place told me that I needed to start looking into child care and my case will be pretty strong.”

“Do you go to church?” Mercedes asked, breaking her stunned silence. The boys looked at her in confusion.

“No, why?”

“My church runs a day care and they really try to help out single parents. I’m sure that if you come and get to know the people they would be more than willing to help you out.” Finn got up from his seat and had the biggest smile on his face. Mercedes looked slightly confused, as did Kurt, but it was all made clear. Finn hugged the diva for all he was worth. Mr. Shue walked in on this touching scene and cleared his throat to let them know that they were no longer alone.

“Sorry Mr. Shue. Mercedes just offered to help me find a day care for the baby,” Finn explained.

“I’m glad your friends are willing to help,” Mr. Shue said. “Are you two telling people now? Where’s Quinn?”

“She still doesn’t want to tell people, but I kinds blurted it out when these two walked up,” Finn explained. “Quinn ran off, pissed. I explained it to Mercedes, but Kurt already knew.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re telling people. The rest of your teachers and I were getting worried about you.”

“I’m going to just tell everyone today in glee,” Finn shrugged. “I mean, when we come back from Christmas break she is going to be really showing. Better prepare our friends so we can be as supportive as possible.”

“Smart idea,” Mr. Shue agreed. By this time, more of the glee kids were showing up and grabbing their usual seats and chatting amongst themselves. The trio remained relatively quiet, greeting others when they were greeted first. Once all of the students were accounted for, with the exception of Quinn, class got started. “Before we get down to this weeks’ assignment, I think Finn has something to say.”

Finn got up from his seat and walked to the stool that was typically set up in the center of the classroom ‘stage’. “Thanks Mr. Shue. Guys, there’s something I need to tell you, and it’s kind of a secret. Quinn and I are going to have a baby.” Everyone erupted into chatter when he dropped this bomb on them. “Yea, it’s a bit of a shock. She didn’t want to tell anyone, so I didn’t mention anything. But she is pissed at me for just telling Kurt and Mercedes. So if I were you, I wouldn’t mention it to her unless she says something first; because she is bat shit crazy.”

“I know that’s right,” Santana commented. “Queen Que has been über bitch lately.”

“Santana,” Mr. Shue warned cautiously.

“Sorry Mr. Shue,” she said, semi-contritely. She happened to roll her eyes at the teacher as she apologized as well. Finn finally felt like some of the weight on his shoulders was starting to ease up on him.

“But you guys are like my only friends, real ones anyway,” Finn said, scuffing his feet on the floor. “I needed to tell someone, and I hope that you guys will stay my friends.”

“Of course we will,” a quiet voice piped up from the back row. Tina Cohen-Chang stood up and walked down to Finn. “I’ll still be your friend.” Next, Tina did something that no one expected. She hugged Finn. He wrapped his arms around her and returned the hug gratefully.

“You have no idea how much this means,” he murmured to Tina. He didn’t really think that Tina liked him all that much, but that made this all the better. He knew it would be risky, but he divulged the next part of the story. “So guys, there’s something else.”

“What?” Puck asked. He had been friends with Finn for the longest time, and he was starting to worry about the taller football player.

“I am trying to keep the baby,” Finn said rushed. He held his breath but got it knocked out of him when Tina dove back in for another fierce hug. Artie rolled over to Finn and grabbed one hand and squeezed in reassurance. Finn was going to start crying soon. Brittany skipped over to the slowly growing group and hugged Finn on the other side from Tina. Tina backed up a bit and Puck walked up. They did the hand shake/hug thing and Finn lost it. Tears were streaming down his face. Kurt and Mercedes were up next. They both hugged Finn with equal fervor.

“I’m assuming that Quinn doesn’t know this little tid bit?” Santana asked.

“Yeah, um,” Finn began, roughly brushing the tears off his face. “She would kill me if she found out, so I would really appreciate it if no one told her.”

“No problem,” Mike and Matt said together.

Mr. Shue looked around at his kids and noticed quite a change in them. They were sophomores, and freshmen, but they were rapidly maturing. The guys weren’t giving Finn a hard time, which was a god send, because they would be the ones to bully first. The girls, he was glad to note, were being sympathetic. He noticed a look that had him a bit worried on Rachel’s face, but an equally intriguing look on Santana’s face. This group would be something to watch over the next few months.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**January – Sophomore – Age 16**

“Hey mom,” Finn said as he came home from the garage. He really did enjoy working for Burt. He did all the basic car maintenance by himself now. He was also being allowed to assist on bigger jobs, especially ones that needed some muscle behind them.

“Just in time for dinner Honey,” Carol announced. She was quite proud of what her son was accomplishing. He was saving money for the baby and a car. He needed so much for a baby and he was well on his way. As they were sitting down to dinner, Finn got a text message.

 **Wende Hench DYFS:** Hey Finn, how’s it going? If this is a good time for our monthly chat, please let me know.

“Wende texted. Should I call her now or tell her to wait a bit so we can have dinner?” Finn asked.

“Why don’t you just call now, then we can enjoy our dinner,” Carol suggested. Finn nodded in agreement. Wende answered on the second ring.

“Wende Hench.” 

“Hey Ms. Hench, it’s Finn Hudson.”

“How are you Finn?”

“I’m doing alright. How about you?”

“Doing well. It’s getting close to the big day huh?”

“Yeah, just a little over two months,” Finn agreed with a sigh.

“You still keeping the journal?” she asked.

“Yeah, I’m writing the good and the bad; unfortunately the most of it is bad involving Quinn. I never realized how crazy she truly is.”

“So you would say that things have gotten worse since we last spoke?” Wende asked.

“Oh definitely. She has actually hit me a few times. I had some scratches on my face from the last time. Mom is a nurse, so she cleaned it all up, but we added pictures to the journal. But short of videotaping each and every encounter I have with her, most of what I have written seems pretty unbelievable.”

“Well, I know that you didn’t want things to come to this, but after what you have just told me, I think you should involve a lawyer. My friend might be willing to take this case on pro bono. Do you have a pen and paper?”

“I’ll get one, hang on a sec,” Finn said, and she could hear him shuffling around to get the appropriate materials. “Okay, I got it.”

“Her name is Samantha Carter,” Wende said. “Her number is….”

Finn wrote the number down. “Are you sure I really need a lawyer?”

“With how unstable she is beginning to sound, I wouldn’t put anything past her. If you call Sam, she will be able to go more in depth about the process.”

“Alright, I’ll call tomorrow during my study hall,” Finn said. “Thanks for all your help.”

“It’s not a problem. I’ll just give you a call next month, unless anything changes; then you feel free to call me.”

“Thanks, til next month,” Finn said. They ended their phone call and Finn went back to the dinner table to sit with his mother.

“A lawyer?” Carol prompted.

“Wende said because she is getting worse, especially because of the violence, that a lawyer might help. And the one she gave me will help, pro bono.”

“Call tomorrow then,” Carol said, agreeing with his answer to Wende. “Maybe from Miss Pillsberry’s office. I actually wanted to talk to you about something tonight as well.”

“Yeah?” Finn asked, digging into his dinner.

“Well, you know that Burt Hummel and I have been talking since you invited him and Kurt to dinner,” Finn nodded in response. “Well, he asked me on a date.”

“A date?”

“Yes, he wanted to take me out to dinner on Friday,” Carol explained. “I wanted to talk to you about it first.”

“Why?” Finn asked, confused.

“Well, he’s your boss, and your friend’s dad. I don’t want this to be weird for you.”

“You haven’t been on a date since that loser drove off in the spray truck. You deserve to be happy. Don’t worry about me.”

“Of course I worry about you,” Carol said.

“I know, but I’d like to believe that I have grown up a bit lately. I’m not gonna lie, I would have totally freaked out probably six months ago. But now… I’m 16 with a baby on the way. I think I’m past the point of judgement and freaking out.”

“Oh sweetie,” Carol said. “You have no idea how much this means to me.”

“I’m just glad you get to find someone who makes you happy,” Finn said sincerely.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

The next day, during Finn’s study hall, he popped into Miss Pillsberry’s office. “Hey Ms. P.”

“Hi Finn. It’s not out normal day. Is there anything the matter?”

“I actually talked to Wende Hench, my contact at DYFS, yesterday. She thinks that because of Quinn’s escalating behaviors, I need to get into contact with a lawyer.”

“Smart move,” Miss Pillsberry agreed. She was being kept abreast of the Quinn situation as well.

“I have the lawyer’s number and Wende and my mother thought I should have you around when I called,” Finn explained.

“That’s perfectly fine. Just put her on speaker phone so I can help when necessary,” she said with a smile on her face. She was really proud that Finn was going about things in the proper way. Finn dialed the number that Wende had given him last night and waited for an answer.

“Samantha Carter’s office, this is Cordelia Chase speaking, how may I direct your call?”

“My name is Finn Hudson. Wende Hench told me to call Ms. Carter and see if she could take on my case.”

“Ah yes, I’ll patch you right through. Please hold.” They were left with muzac and Finn began to sway to it in his seat. He was a sucker for elevator music. Puck always made fun of him for it.

“Hello, Samantha Carter, how can I help you?”

“My name is Finn Hudson,” Finn began. “Wende Hench from DYFS gave me your number.”

“Yes, she did mention a case,” Sam replied. “Can you give me a basic overview? We can go from there.”

“I’m 16, and my girlfriend is 6 and a half months pregnant,” Finn started. “She wants to get rid of the baby, and I would like to keep it. She is basically psychotic.”

“You are absolutely sure that you want to keep this baby?”

“Absolutely. I know that I can do this. I have a job, and I’m attending a church that will help me with child care when the time comes,” Finn explained.

“Okay, we can help you with this. Wende said there were extenuating circumstances throughout this entire pregnancy, from conception until now. Some of the questions I have to ask may seem invasive, but the more I know, the better I can help you. Now, did you use any form of contraception?”

“Yes. She told me that she was taking care of it on her end, but I wanted to make sure,” Finn said. “The condom was leaking a bit when all was said and done, but I made the mistake of trusting that she was taking care of things on her end.”

“So she was not on birth control, even though she said she was?”

“It turns out she wasn’t on anything,” Finn said. “She told me that if she prayed hard enough she thought she wouldn’t get pregnant.”

“Well, that will certainly make you seem more like the responsible one. Now, how is your girlfriend now?”

“At this rate, she’s likely to kill me before the baby gets here,” Finn said honestly. “I know pregnant people get all kinds of hormones and shit, but she is just plain crazy.”

“I don’t think crazy is the right word, Finn,” Miss Pillsberry interrupted. “Sorry, my name is Emma Pillsberry, school counselor, and I’ve been working with Finn since he told us back in November.”

“What word would you use for the young lady’s behavior?” Sam asked.

“Psychotic,” Miss Pillsberry said. “She not only verbally assaults Finn and everyone around her, but she actually physically assaulted Finn a few weeks ago.”

“Definitely some cause for alarm,” Sam commented. “Proof?”

“I’m keeping a journal of all our encounters. I have photos of the assault as well,” Finn replied.

“Good, I’m going to want to meet with you, hopefully Tuesday of next week,” Sam said.

“I’ll call my work and see if I can take off that day,” Finn said. He concluded his phone call with some of his personal information so they could keep in touch.

“I’m glad you called,” Miss Pillsberry said.

“I’m just disappointed that it’s come down to this,” Finn sighed, rubbing his hands over his face. She thought he was looking a bit worn around the edges – and she couldn’t even blame him, this was a lot of work to deal with at such a young age.

“You are not to blame,” she soothed. “In this case, I believe Quinn has an underlying problem that has only come to be exasperated by the pregnancy.”

“I’m just dumb for getting together with her in the first place.”

“I’m certain you saw some redeeming qualities,” Miss Pillsberry said.

“It was kind of just expected for us to get together,” Finn explained. “I made quarter back and she was the head cheerleader, Captain in fact. Everyone expected it. Then she was always telling me what to do. I really didn’t care either way. I liked making out with her and she was hot. Our relationship was what kept us from being slushied.”

“I never realized how this social hierarchy worked,” Miss Pillsberry commented. “I feel bad that you felt obligated to go out with Quinn.”

“Me too,” Finn agreed. “I know I have my fault in this. I know I chose to sleep with Quinn. I am stepping up and accepting my responsibility. It really pissed me off that she is acting like I forced her into this, but in actuality she pressured me into it.”

“How is she not accepting responsibility? She believes giving the baby up for adoption will give it a better life,” she replied, playing devil’s advocate.

“Do you know what her reasons are for giving the baby up?” Emma shook her head no. Finn got his well-worn notebook and turned to a familiar page. “She told me ‘this baby is doing the worst things to my body. I can’t wait to get rid of it. Then I can get back my body. I can get back on the Cheerios and back to the top of the social ladder’. She cares nothing for this baby. ”

“Yes, that is certainly a narcissistic point of view,” she agreed, looking rather forlorn.

“I always feel better talking to you Ms. P. Just talking about it helps.”

“I’m glad,” she smiled. “Let me know how things go with the lawyer and feel free to put me down as a reference about the case.”

“No problem. I’m gonna head out and call my mom, let her know what is going on.”

“Alright Finn, have a great rest of the day.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

**February – Sophomore – Age 16**

Finn was sitting outside the weight room of William McKinnley High School. He has silent tears running down his face. He couldn’t really understand why he was crying over this. Quinn has severed all ties with him. She dumped him. He had been thinking about doing that for a while honestly but he decided against it. Finn thought it would set her over the edge and do something to the baby. But he couldn’t believe that she actually dumped him.

“You okay, man?” a familiar voice said from above him.

“I’m not really sure,” Finn replied honestly. Dave Karovsky slid down the wall and sat down next to him.

“What happened?”

“Quinn dumped me,” he said hollowly.

“Isn’t that what you wanted?” Dave asked.

“I mean, yeah, but I still wasn’t really expecting it,” Finn said roughly, brushing tears off his face.

“You want me to give you a ride home?” Dave offered.

“Thanks man,” Finn sighed. “I’d appreciate it.” Dave got up off the floor and held out his hand for Finn to pull himself up. They walked in silence to the car. “Do you think I’m crazy for wanting this?”

“I thought this from the beginning, but no. I think you’re doing something pretty awesome. I couldn’t have done what you are planning. She is the ultimate queen bitch, and you deserve a whole lot better than Quinn Fabray.”

“Thanks man,” Finn sniffed. “I didn’t mean to cry all over this and complain.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Dave shrugged. “We wouldn’t be friends if this stuff never happened. Just means I am paying it forward. You have to return the favor one day.”

“You got it bro.”

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

The next morning, Finn walked right to Principal Figgins’ office. “Mr. Hudson, what a wonderful surprise. What do you want?”

“I need permission and the paper work to fill out for homebound tutoring from about the middle of March until the end of the school year.”

“Why would you need that?”

“Because I’m going to have a baby.”

“That’s a good one Mr. Hudson, who put you up to this?”

“No one, I need homebound.”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because you are a boy, the mother is the one on homebound, taking care of the baby.”

“Call Coach Sylvester.”

“What?”

“Call Coach Sylvester!”

“Why?”

“Call Coach Sylvester!”

“No need Hudson,” Sue said, as she popped her head into Figgins’ office. “What’s the problem?”

“Figgins is being sexist and not granting me homebound,” Finn said, then shook his head. “And I can’t believe I just said that.”

“What’s the problem Figgy?”

“The girl takes care of the baby.”

“No, the girl in this case doesn’t want the baby and Hudson here is doing the right thing. So here’s the deal Figgy,” Sue said. “You’re going to grant this kid homebound tutoring services, and I won’t take this blatant form of sexism to the press.”

“What?”

“You would be fired and I would be obligated - and all too happy - to take your place.”

“Fine,” Figgins threw his hands up in defense. “I’ll put the necessary paperwork through and speak to your teachers.”

“Already done Figgy,” Sue said. “We will let them know when they are needed. Let’s go Hudson.”

“Thanks Coach Sylvester,” Finn said as they left the office.

“No problem kid,” Sue said, giving him a rare smile.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Carol Hudson was up in the attic when Finn got home from work. She was up there looking for Finn’s old crib. She thought it would make him feel better after yesterday with the school. When Carol heard the front door open, she called out. “Honey, I’m up in the attic, could you come up here and give me a hand?”

“Sure mom!” he replied. He put his stuff down by his desk and went to help his mother in the attic. “Why are you up here?”

“I was looking for your old crib and I was gonna bring it down and try to set it up for the baby. Something to cheer you up. But it was too heavy for just me to bring it down by myself.”

“I’ll bring it down,” Finn said, a smile gracing his face. “That did make me happy mom, thanks.”

“I knew you were upset, so I figured this weekend we could go shopping for essentials if you want. I found some great deals and I have some coupons saved. We can make a whole day of it. What do you say?”

“I think that’s just what I’m gonna need. I have quite a bit of money saved so far, Let’s do it.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 - March 15 th, 2012 – Sophomore - Age: 16**

They day had finally arrived. Finn Hudson became a father; just a few hours after the New Directions lost their competition at Regionals. He was the proud father of a 7 pound, 8 ounce, 20 inch long beautiful baby girl.

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Quinn sneered. She signed the paper that Samantha Carter, Esq. had put in front of her. Sam carefully explained what each paper was and the rights that she was giving up. Although she wanted Finn to have the baby, she had to do her due diligence to explain what this all meant to Quinn. Finn Hudson would be the sole guardian of the baby girl he named Charlotte Amelia Hudson. She already had Finn wrapped around her tiny little fingers

“This is by far the best decision that I’ve ever had to make, and probably ever will,” he replied. Sam notarized the paperwork herself. Once that was all said and done, Quinn stormed out of the hospital, as well as she could, having just given birth.

“How are you feeling, Finn?” Sam asked, filing the papers away in her briefcase.

“It’s surreal, honestly,” Finn said, watching his sleeping daughter. “I can’t believe she is finally here.”

“I can’t wait to get a picture of this little lady on my office wall,” Sam coo’d. She brushed her hand over Charlotte’s barely-there fine baby hair.

“I’ll mail one over as soon as I can,” Finn promised. “I get to take her home tomorrow.”

“So you have everything ready back home?”

“Just about,” Finn answered. “I gotta get a car seat put in mom’s car so we can go home, but everything else is pretty much done.”

“Good,” Samantha smiled at him. He was already being a good dad. She was glad she took Finn on as a client. “I know everything will work out.”

“Thanks for all your help, Ms. Carter,” Finn said sincerely. “I don’t think this would have worked out as well as it did without you.”

“It was no problem, Finn. Your case is like the ones that I enjoy taking on. I feel more purpose.”

They said their good byes and Finn was left alone with his baby girl. Charlotte had come screaming into this world. Unfortunately she had moved her bowels in the womb, so she had to be kept an extra night for observation. There was one more treatment needed to make sure it wouldn’t adversely affect her health but so far she was just a healthy little girl.

“I love you so much Charlotte,” Finn murmured. He leaned down to gently kiss her fore head. This just felt so right.

Finn was at the hospital all day, learning everything he could from the nurses. They were quite impressed with him. He wasn’t all that bad at changing a diaper, and she fed like a champ. Finn had to be encouraged to burp her a bit harder, that she wasn’t going to break. He was still overly cautious due to their size differential. But he was feeling better about taking her home the following day, now gaining the skills he would need to take care of her. This 16 year old was about to take on one of the greatest challenges in life, fatherhood, head on. **  
**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7 – March – Sophomore – Age 16**

Carol brought Finn back to the hospital bright and early the next morning. He got to give Charlotte her second feeding of the day. The hospital staff was quite pleased with Charlotte’s health and there were able to take her home around noon. Ken, the male nurse on the maternity floor, actually wheeled Finn out to the car like they do with the departing mothers. They had bonded over the past two days that Finn had been here, and the wheelchair was all in good fun.

Finn got her all buckled into the infant car seat under the watchful eye of Ken. With a job well done, Finn sat in the back with his girl, while Carol drove them home. When they got there, Burt and Kurt were there with welcome home signs.

“Finn, she is so gorgeous,” Kurt gushed, practically swooning over the baby girl. “I’m gonna have so much fun dressing her up.”

“You can have free reign, but let’s wait a few months dude,” Finn agreed. Kurt was too enamored with the baby that he didn’t even scold Finn for calling him dude. They got all of the stuff in the house when Finn noticed a large gift basket on the coffee table. “What’s this?”

“Quinn never found out what she was having, so I wanted to get some girly outfits in addition to the gender neutral clothes you have,” Kurt explained.

“You guys didn’t have to do this,” Finn said, feeling overwhelmingly grateful for the Hummel men.

“This gorgeous girl deserves some girly clothes,” Burt said, peering into the baby carrier. “And don’t you dare worry about work. You come back when you can, probably not before summer.”

“Thanks Burt,” Finn smiled. He was worrying about what he was going to do about work. This was just one burden off his mind. 

“Carol, one of the sweet ladies from church stopped by this morning with a large pan of baked ziti. I had to rearrange your fridge a bit,” Burt said, leading her further into the house.

“They’ve been so good to us,” Carol said. “I’m really glad Mercedes showed us her church.”

“I can’t believe you’re a dad,” Kurt said. He took Charlotte’s carrier and put it in the middle of the couch. Kurt sat down on one side while Finn sat on the other.

“It’s still weird for me to say it,” Finn agreed. He pulled the gift basket closer to him on the table and began to take the items out to look at them. There were four cute pink outfits, socks with ruffles, headbands with different colored bows, a few summer outfits that should fit her in a few months, and a personalized t-shirt that read ‘My Uncle Kurt spoils me’. “This is really awesome.”

“I’m glad you like it,” Kurt replied. “So… people at school want to come visit.”

“They do?” Finn questioned, surprised.

“Yes,” Kurt replied. “I made up a schedule. And Mercy is first tomorrow with me. I only have two people a day coming, and I told them they can’t stay for long. But it’s really up to you.”

“Two seems like a manageable number,” Finn agreed. “Hopefully everything will go well.”

“I’m sure Princess will be just fine,” Kurt said, stroking her cheek softly.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Finn survived his first day with Char home. She was up every three hours to feed but would go right back to sleep after she got changed. Finn was able to get all of her stuff put away and get the house more set up for Charlotte. His first two visitors came at 3:15, as soon as school let out. Kurt just walked into the house and Mercedes was practically bouncing in excitement right behind him.

“How is the Princess today?” Kurt asked, bounding over to the bassinette where the sleeping Charlotte lay.

“Good. She is due for a bottle in another hour or so, so you picked a good time to come today,” Finn replied.

“She is too cute for words!” Mercedes squealed quietly.

“She really is,” Finn agreed. “When she gets up, do you wanna feed her?”

“Do you even need to ask?” Mercedes said. Finn blushed a bit.

“So how is everything at school?” Finn asked as they all sat around the living room.

“All everyone can talk about is what happened,” Kust said. “I mean, Quinn did have the baby in the middle of Regionals.”

“She back?”

Kurt nodded. “Came back today.”

“She won’t talk to anyone else,” Mercedes said. “And she got Sue to let her back on the Cheerios.”

“I figured as much,” Finn shrugged. “Quinn was a good cheerleader.”

“I thought she would at least show some emotion though,” Mercedes said.

“I wish she felt something,” Finn agreed. “Even in the hospital, she didn’t even want to have Char in the same room.”

“She is just hateful,” Kurt said. “You manned up and she couldn’t handle it.”

“I honestly don’t know how I could have ever walked away from her,” Finn said fondly. “I don’t want to imagine a day in my life without her now.”

“And that’s what makes you a good dad,” Kurt said, getting up to walk over to the bassinette

“She is already loved by so many people,” Mercedes commented. Charlotte began to wake up from her nap a bit ahead of schedule. “Oh, she’s awake.”

“My girl knows there are people here to see her,” Finn said in a corny high pitched voice. He went over and picked up the tiny baby. Charlotte looked so tiny in comparison to her 6’3” father. He handled her with such tenderness and care that Mercedes nearly cried. “You wanna hold her?”

“Yes my goodness! Im’ma go wash my hands real quick,” She ran out of the living room and washed her hands. When she returned, Finn handed Charlotte to Mercedes. Kurt took his time when he went to wash his hands. When he returned, Mercedes had a bottle in her hand and a baby in her arms. Finn looked on with a big old smile in his face. Charlotte sucked her bottle down.

“I can’t really believe this is where my life ended up,” Finn said. Mercedes held Charlotte up to burp her. “If you asked me last year if I would have a baby and that you two would be my best friends…. I would have thought you were crazy.”

“It’s true,” Kurt agreed. “It feels like forever ago that you sent me that Facebook message. But in actuality, it was less than 6 months ago.”

“It’s definitely kinda strange,” Mercedes agreed. “Now you’re part of the family.”

“I like my little family,” Finn smiled.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Matt Rutherford and Mike Chang came the next day, right after school. They were still kinda freaked out that Finn now had a kid. They stood on the front porch after they knocked.

“Hey guys, thanks for coming,” Finn smiled. After they shook hands, they made their way into the living room. Charlotte was asleep in the portable bassinette.

“How’s it goin’, man?” Matt asked. Mike snuck off to wash his hands.

“It’s going. She sleeps a lot and eats real good,” Finn said. Mike returned and looked at Charlotte with barely restrained glee. “You wanna hold her Mike?”

“Uh, yeah,” Mike said. “I’ll admit I was kinda wigged that you have a kid now. But now that I see her, it’s so cool.” Finn went to pick up his sleepy princess and carefully handed him to Mike. You’d think Mike was holding a china doll.

“How the hell did you make something that cute?” Matt asked. Finn laughed.

“I’m still trying to wrap my head around that she’s mine.”

“So what’s the plan?” Mike asked. Charlotte was curled up on his chest, still sleeping. “I mean how does this work with a guy having a kid?”

“Well, I have it worked out with Figgins. Sue got me home bound for the rest of the school year. I’m gonna have teachers come and get me my work. Mercedes set me up at her church. They are gonna help me with child care so I’ll be back in school come September.”

“Football?” Matt asked. Finn shook his head.

“I gotta work at the church three nights a week, then two week nights and Saturdays at Burt’s shop. I won’t have much time for other things other than school.”

“Sucks man,” Matt said. “But at least you have your priorities right.”

“I’m trying man,” Finn said.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Finn was quite surprised that Tina had been paired up with Rachel for their visit. Tina was probably bribed something good to endure Rachel’s company.

“Hey Finn!” Tina said excitedly. She hugged him and ran past to where Charlotte was laying in the bassinette wide awake. “Ohh, she’s awake!” Tina ran into the bathroom to wash her hands and ran back to pick up the baby.

“Hello Finn,” Rachel said.

“Rachel,” Finn nodded and ushered her into the house.

Tina has Charlotte on her lap, just beaming down at the little girl. Charlotte began to whimper.

“Hang on, I’ll go heat up a bottle for you,” Finn said, hurrying to the kitchen to get one. Charlotte was nearly to the point of crying when Finn handed Tina the bottle. “Just have her head up and burp her after every ounce.”

Tina nodded. Rachel came over to the couch where Charlotte was being fed.

“She has very good features, being as young as she is,” Rachel commented in her clinical voice. “But that’s to be expected seeing who her father is.”

“Um, thanks,” Finn replied. Rachel felt a bit off and he really didn’t want her around Charlotte too much. Finn really didn’t want her to be around himself much either. She always kinda creeped him out. It was bad enough that Shue made them solo together. Rachel got it into her head that they were soul mates. Finn sat down next to Tina. “So how’s school going?”

“It’s going,” Tina admitted. “Coach Sylvester agreed to let us have the glee club next year.”

“Sweet.”

“I’m sure she heard our superior vocals at Regionals and knew we got gipped. She probably voted against us.” Finn kept his mouth shut. Sue had texted him to say they lost even though she had voted for them. She also texted him a special congratulations.

“So you’re still gonna do glee next year?”

“Yeah, I would like to. It’s during school hours,” Finn said. “Just no more football and basketball.”

“But your popularity is dependent upon your being on the football team,” Rachel exclaimed. “How will glee ever survive without it?”

“Well, we all sing pretty well,” Finn said. “And that’s kinda all glee is supposed to be about.”

“My superior vocals could certainly carry us but it would be preferable to have some social clout from more well-known football stars.”

“I’m not rejoining football, Rachel. I have a daughter now,” Finn explained slowly, as if talking to a small child. “If you can’t handle that, then you should just leave now.”

Rachel gave a huff. “Fine.” She stormed out of the house in the most dramatic way possible. She even slammed the door. This action caused Charlotte to wake up, let out a surprise burp and start crying. Finn scooped up the crying newborn into his arms and began to sooth her, bouncing her up and down and rubbing her back. Tina watched in awe.

“You’re a really good dad,” Tina said. “Screw Rachel. You’re doing what you have to do. We should be damn lucky that you are coming back to school at all.”

“My mom’s the one who is encouraging me to go back. I looked into getting my GED,” Finn said. “But she’s right. I’d really be missing out on a lot. It would be hard to go back without any friends, but there are so many of you that care. It’s a really good feeling.”

“We would really miss you Finn Hudson. Don’t you forget it,” Tina said, poking him in the chest to emphasize her point.

“I’m glad I ended up being your friend Tina,” Finn admitted. “You’re always there with your simple logic and it always makes sense of what ever crazy situation I’m in.”

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

The next two to visit were Artie with Puck. Finn helped Puck bring Artie in the house and got him situated on the couch. Puck went to wash his hands while Artie got his sanitizer on. Puck needed no prompting to pull the lady out of her bassinette.

“Hello there gorgeous,” Puck coo’d. He had a big smile on his face.

“Dude,” Finn chuckled.

“What, I’m a softie when it comes to my niece,” Puck said, looking at Finn and cradling the baby.

“And between Finn as her father, and her Uncle Puck, poor Charlotte is never going to be able to date,” Artie said.

“Of course not,” Finn said. “She’ll be my little girl forever.”

“Poor thing,” Artie lamented. “Get over here Puck, I can’t exactly get up and see all the cuteness.”

“Sorry bro,” Puck said sheepishly. He walked over and laid Charlotte in Artie’s arms.

“I talked to Mr. Bob. He isn’t going to be able to come out and do Biology tutoring. But I offered to come over and help you with your work,” Artie said, not taking his eyes off the slightly wriggly baby in his arms.

“You sure you’re okay with that?” Finn asked.

“Yeah, Puck agreed to bring me by and babysit while we do our work,” Artie said. Puck nodded his head in agreement. Finn looked dubious.

“I need one girl to like me,” Puck said. “I’ll start with her.”

“No corrupting my girl,” Finn warned. Puck shook his head, enthralled by the tiny baby. “You guys are awesome. I’m really grateful for that you’re offering to do.”

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Brittany didn’t even bother to knock at the Hudson’s front door. She bound into the house. Charlotte was crying while Finn was bouncing her in one arm in the kitchen. He was in the process of fixing her a bottle. Santana filed in the house after Brittany. “Britts, you can’t just barge into the house,” Santana said. “What if the baby was sleeping?”

“Sorry,” Brittany said, looking quite ashamed.

“Believe me girls, she’s awake,” Finn joked. He was finishing the bottle. Once the nipple was in her mouth, she quieted down and drank her bottle. “Come on in, make yourselves comfortable.”

Santana was absolutely fascinated with the way Finn was feeding his daughter.

“She is so cute,” Brittany gushed. She wandered over to sit next to Finn.

“She’s my beautiful baby girl,” Finn agreed, putting a big ol’ smile on his face.

“You are entirely too sappy, Hudson,” Santana commented, her arms crossed in front of her chest, hip cocked out, and a smirk on her face.

“Can’t be too sappy if it’s true,” Finn pointed out.

“Fine, she’s gorgeous,” Santana admitted, moving closer. She stroked Charlotte’s cheek. “You better hope she doesn’t have blond hair.”

“Why?”

“Because then she’s gonna look like that puta, Quinn,” Santana explained in a sweet baby voice.

“Language,” Finn said. “No bad words around my daughter, even in another language.”

“You’re no fun,” she teased, sticking her tongue out at him. Finn smiled. This little banter gave him a funny feeling inside. He filed that feeling away for another time.

**O0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Charlotte was dressed in her personalized onsie that proudly proclaimed ‘my Uncle Kurt spoils me.’ When said uncle walked through the door. “How’s my gorgeous girl today?”

“I don’t think she’s feeling too well, “Finn said, letting out a yawn. “She was up all night.”

“You look like crap bro,” Dave Karofsky commented as he stepped into the house.

“You would too if your kid was up all night crying,” Finn said blandly.

“I’m kidding,” Dave said. “Can I hold her?”

“Go wash your hands,” Finn nodded. Dave went off and did as he was told.

“Do you wanna go take a nap?” Kurt asked. “I’ll keep her for a few hours.”

“No, I’ll be fine, I’ll just put on some coffee when Dave’s back out here.”

“Are you sure?” Kurt pressed.

“I’m sixteen and I have a daughter,” Finn chuckled. “I’m not sure of anything anymore.” Kurt laughed. Dave came out and waited for Finn to hand him the baby. She had finally calmed down. Once Charlotte was settled in Dave’s arms, Finn practically scampered into the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee.

“I can’t believe she’s finally here,” Dave breathed quietly.

“She really is a beauty,” Kurt coo’d, stroking her hair gently. “I’m glad Finn told you about Charlotte.”

“Really, why?” Dave questioned.

“He needs someone more like him on his side,” Kurt said. “I’m like the gay best friend, but I don’t have any manly references to go along with him.”

“I think you guys get along fine,” Dave said. A scent wafted up to Dave’s nose. Kurt had good smelling cologne on. It did funny things to Dave’s insides. All the feeling of hatred for feeling this way came bubbling up inside his chest. He felt abnormal for feeling attracted to Kurt. But he looked down at the tiny innocent baby. Dave leaned down and pressed a kiss to her warm, soft forehead. Those angry feelings were coming down. She wouldn’t hate him if he was gay. Charlotte Amelia Hudson began the journey of self-acceptance and he felt a bit happy inside.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Kurt told him his final day of visitors would be coming by today. Finn mentally went through all the glee mates and came up blank. He was quite curious about who would be stopping by. The knock on the front door alerted him to their presence. He answered the door while Charlotte was sleeping in her swing chair. Finn was shocked to see Mr. Schuester, Ms. Pillsberry, and Coach Bieste.

“Hey guys,” Finn greeted with a smile. “I didn’t know you guys would be stopping by.”

“After everything we’ve been through this year, I wouldn’t not come by,” Ms. Pillsberry exclaimed. She practically pushed past Finn to go see the sleeping infant. “Too gorgeous for words!”

“How are things going?” Mr. Schuester asked.

“It’s not going too bad,” Finn said, letting the two remaining guests into the house “She’s sleeping pretty good. Eating pretty well. I’m really lucky.”

“I’ll say,” Coach Bieste commented. “She’s cuter than a June bug in summer.”

“She sure is, my gorgeous girl,” Finn agreed.

“I brought her a few outfits for summer,” Coach said. “She’s going to be the bee’s knees, Hudson.”

“Thanks so much,” Finn said, smiling. “I love these times, but I really can’t wait until she gets older. I have so many plan.”

“I think you’re doing a great job,” Ms. Pillsberry praised. “I’m glad you went through with it.”

“Me too.”

“Have you called Sam and Wende since?” she asked politely.

“I mailed them some of the hospital photos. They helped me so much,” Finn replied. “I owe them everything.”

“I’m sure they’ll appreciate the photos,” Ms. Pillsberry said.

“You okay Mr. Schue?” Finn questioned. His mentor was staring oddly at Coach Bieste and Charlotte.

“I can’t believe Quinn didn’t want her,” Mr. Schue breathed. “She walks around the school as if the past six months haven’t meant anything at all.”

“I expected this to happen, Mr. Schue,” Finn explained. “My Quinn diaries are full to bursting with all the crazies. She actually assaulted me. I knew she would be just trying to get back to her former glory.”

“But I thought that when she went through child birth, things would change.”

“I don’t think she will,” Ms. Pillsberry said. “I don’t have a formal degree in psychiatry, but I believe - based on what I’ve read - that Quinn is dealing with a Borderline Personality Disorder.”

“Makes sense,” Coach Bieste commented. They all looked at her. “What? She’s in my gym class. I’ve seen the way she deals with her peers. I thought she was just all crazy into herself.”

“Narcissistic personality disorder,” Ms. Pillsberry confirmed. “That’s which borderline I was leaning toward.”

“Shouldn’t she be seeing a therapist or something?” Mr. Schue asked.

“That’s completely up to her. In her mind, there’s nothing wrong. Unless someone call her out and it gets through then there might be a chance. But I’ve met her parents and in my professional opinion… she’s screwed,” Ms. Pillsberry put succinctly.

“It’s her loss,” Coach Bieste said, stroking Charlotte’s head.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8 – June – Summer after Sophomore year – Age 16, Charlotte age 3 mos.**

Finn was a dad and had been for three whole months. Three months of feedings, diaper changes, spit up, and crying. In his mind, he wouldn’t trade it for the world. He was in love with his baby girl. He got three weeks off from school before his tutors came out. Ms. Pennett came for English on Mondays for two hours. Mr. Key came on Tuesdays. Artie came over every Wednesday to tutor biology, with Puck being the baby sitter. Thursdays brought Dave to teach geometry and trigonometry. Fridays brought Mr. Schue to give Spanish lessons. Saturday mornings brought Coach Beiste over for health class tutoring. They gave some new information, but mostly Finn was giving the bookwork and pretty much able to teach himself what was going through.

Finn also started going back to church about two weeks after Charlotte was born. When she was six weeks old, Finn began to work there as well. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays to be their janitor. He would leave Charlotte with the ladies who ran the day care while he worked. It would be a trial run for when he went back to school full time. The ladies were enthralled with Charlotte. Once Charlotte was eight weeks old, he got Carol to babysit while he went to Burt’s shop on Saturdays. Carol was all too pleased to take her granddaughter for a few hours every Saturday.

When they took Charlotte to church on Sundays, Mercedes got to see her little goddaughter. It was a special bonding time for both of them. She took the baby every second that she wasn’t up singing with the choir. She even convinced Finn to start singing with them. He might have been the only white man in the choir, but he loved being up there.

One Wednesday, just before school let out, Artie was over to give his science final. Puck was there as well. He immediately took Charlotte and disappeared somewhere in the house. Finn chuckled. Uncle Puck was well and truly smitten with his niece. “Alright, you have two hours to do the test. I have the approved formula sheet. You’re allowed a calculator and scrap paper. Time starts now,” Artie announced.

Finn put pencil to paper and got to work on his final. Artie turned out to be a good tutor. He related things to do the concepts that Finn actually understood. The final was a five page exam with multiple choice, fill in the blank, short answer and two essay questions. It took Finn nearly the whole two hours for him to finish his essays the best he could.

“Hey man, you done yet?” Puck asked, bouncing Charlotte in his arms.

“Yeah, just finished,” Finn replied, putting his pencil down.

“Good, now I can tell you about game night,” Puck grinned. “Me, you, Wheels, Rutherford, Chang, and Karofsky. Saturday.”

“I don’t really go out any more guys,” Finn said, pointing to his wriggly daughter in Puck’s arms.

“Ah man,” Puck said. “I wish you could get out for a bit. I know you’re a dad and everything, but you gotta be craving to get out.”

“Well, yeah, sometimes I think it would be easier to be a teenager again, but then I look at Charlotte and I remember.”

“If you can come, it’s at Artie’s house, starts at 6,” Puck said, handing over his niece.

“Thanks man,” Finn said. “And thanks Artie, I think I did pretty well this school year.”

“You kicked ass this semester,” Artie commended.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

“So what are your plans today, Finn?” Carol asked early Saturday morning. Charlotte had just gotten up, was changed and fed.

“Well, I was thinking about taking Charlotte down to the park, walk around in the fresh air,” Finn said, trying to get his daughter to burp.

“That sounds good. It’s definitely supposed to be a gorgeous day,” Carol agreed. “Anything else?”

“I don’t think so. I have two more finals,” Finn replied. “I’ll probably study a bit while she naps. I’ll finish the laundry and get all our stuff put away.”

“You don’t want to go play video games with your friends?” Carol prodded.

“Did Puck text you?” Finn groaned.

“Yes he did. And I’m glad he did. You’ve not left this house without Charlotte,” Carol said. “You’re gonna go crazy.”

“But I can’t just drop everything to go play video games,” Finn protested.

“I would very much like to have Grandma and Charlotte time tonight,” Carol said. “You’re gonna get out of his house for a few hours.”

“But what if she needs me?” Finn said pitifully. Carol game him a look.

“You act as if I’ve never raised a kid before,” she said. “I went out when you were three months old. Your father had just died but I needed to clear my head. I had your grandmom come over and watch you for the night.”

“I never knew that.”

“Did you ever feel neglected growing up?” Carol asked.

“No, you were always there for me,” Finn said, not getting it.

“So I left you with your Grandmother once in a while so I could go out on a date or just let loose a bit,” Carol explained. “You need to decompress from Daddy-mode.”

“So… you’re kicking me out?” Finn asked.

“Tonight, after Charlotte’s five o’clock bottle, you are going to drive over to Artie’s and play video games with your friends.” Finn sighed. He was grateful that his mom was willing to take Charlotte.

“Are you sure?” Finn asked.

“Yes I’m sure,” Carol smiled. She went over to hug Finn before going off to start breakfast.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Finn took Charlotte to the park, and let her wriggle around on a blanket for a while. There were quite a few families around with young children and some single moms, but no single dads. No dads by themselves with their kids, anyway. After a few hours of walking around and relaxing at the park, he brought Charlotte home. Since he put sunblock on her, he got her all hunkered down for her bath. She tolerated baths, which he was grateful for, but they were far from her favorite thing.

Five o’clock snuck up on Finn. As he was giving Charlotte her bottle, Carol came to see him. “Are you going to crash there or come home late?”

“I don’t think I can crash there.”

“I’m sure Artie’s parents won’t mind,” Carol said.

“I don’t think I would want to stay away that long,” Finn corrected.

“And that’s fine,” Carol assured him. “You don’t have to go whole hog the first night, but you need to be able to separate from her.”

“I know, but it’s hard,” Finn groaned.

“It really is, but just think of this as a dry run for when you go back to school in September,” Carol said.

“I know,” he sighed. “I guess I’ll go get ready to go to Artie’s. I just need a quick shower.”

“Go, we’ll be fine,” Carol nudged.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

*Ding Dong* “Go answer the door Puck,” Artie said as he took out Matt’s character.

“Fine Wheels. I call winner,” Puck said. He got up from the couch and went to answer the door. When the door opened, he saw his best friend standing there looking sheepish, hands shoved in his jean pockets.

“Hey, that invite still good?” Finn asked.

“Of course man,” Puck said grinning. “Come on in. Karofsky is running a little late, so you’re not the last one here.” Finn followed Puck into the living room. Artie, Mike, and Matt muttered a hello. Finn knew that he made the right decision to come tonight, but that didn’t stop him from missing his little girl.

“So what are we playing?”

“COD right now, but who knows later. Kinda free for all,” Puck explained. They both grabbed a seat on the couch and watched at the current bout took place. Mike seemed skilled, but Artie was in his own class. Matt was more here for moral support. They played a few rounds, and Finn didn’t do too bad, especially since he really hadn’t played since Christmas before last.

Finn has been there for about an hour before Artie’s parents came home. They didn’t come off as the warmest people that Finn had ever met, but when Artie made the introductions, Finn was distinctly rubbed the wrong way.

“This is Finn,” Artie said. Finn got up from his place on the couch and went over to shake the hands of the Abrams, but they were hesitant.

“Ahh, you’re the boy who has a child,” Gwen Abrams said, distain in her voice.

“Yeah, my Charlotte is three and a half months,” Finn said with a smile.

“And you’re here?” she said critically.

“Well, my mother practically kicked me out,” Finn gave a small chuckle. “I didn’t really want to leave.”

“Hmm,” she replied before leaving without shaking his hand. Arthur Abrams also left without shaking Finn’s hand. Finn turned back to his friends, and sat down quietly.

“That was not right,” Artie said. He wheeled off in the direction his parents went without another word.

“Don’t let them get to you,” Puck said.

“You know you did the right thing,” Karofsky piped up. The group could hear some muffled arguing from the kitchen on the other side of the house. “Damn, Artie is letting them have it.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

**August – Age 16 – pre-junior year. Charlotte 5.5 months**

“Come on Kurt!” Finn called out. “Quit adjusting her dress. She’s five months old, she’s gonna get it all messed up by the time we get to the church.”

“I can’t help it. I want everything to be perfect,” Kurt protested. He carried Charlotte down the stairs and handed her to her father.

“I can’t imagine that she’s going to remember this at all,” Finn pointed out. “She’s only close to 6 months.”

“But we’re gonna remember,” Kurt stressed. “I’m gonna get a whole bunch of pictures.”

“That’s your sacred duty as godfather,” Finn said smiling down at his daughter. “Come on, you’re driving.”

Finn, Charlotte, Kurt, Burt, and Carol all piled into Kurt’s navigator. They drove the short distance to their church across town. Mercedes met them outside the church. “Give me my goddaughter,” she insisted.

Finn dutifully handed Charlotte to her godmother. They all walked into the church and took seats near the front. All of the glee club and a few football players had been invited to see the ceremony and the reception after. Puck was a bit miffed as he wasn’t godfather, but Finn was quick to remind him that Charlotte wasn’t Jewish, and that prevented Puck from officially qualifying. That really wasn’t going to stop him from being the best Uncle Puck ever. Everyone they had invited had actually showed up. Finn was shocked. Even Mr. Schue, Miss Pillsberry, Coach Bieste, and Coach Sylvester showed up.

They pastor gave a lovely message. Everyone promised to love and surround Charlotte Amelia as she grew up. Finn did feel sad that Charlotte’s mother couldn’t be there to experience all of this with them. But then he looked out at his extended family. They meant the world to him. Finn was man enough to admit that he got teary eyed as his daughter got blessed. Everyone at church offered their joy and congratulations on the happy occasion.

Everyone headed from the church to the Hummel house. Their house was bigger and Kurt had way more fun planning the party than Finn would have. Charlotte got quite a few gifts for her Christening. She also got some money; meaning that Finn would be heading out first thing in the morning to the bank to open a savings account. Finn was having such a good time that he didn’t notice that Burt had disappeared for a short while.

“Hey, Finn,” Carol called. “Burt said he could use a hand out front.”

“Sure,” Finn called back. Of all people, Santana had Charlotte. “Hey San, are you okay with her?”

“Go see what Burt wants,” Santana said, smiling. “We’re fine.” Finn nodded and made his way out front.

“What do you need Burt?” Finn asked, stepping off the front porch.

“I need someone to own this SUV back here,” Burt said, patting the black SUV behind him. “You think you’re up for it?”

“What?!” Finn asked dumbly.

“You’re going to need a way to get Charlotte to and from daycare and school,” Burt explained. They party began to trickle out from the house onto the porch. “This is my Christening present to you and Charlotte.” Finn was a complete and total loss for words. Burt ambled over to Finn. There were tears on the young man’s face. “Finn, you okay?”

“I have some money, I’ll pay you back. I promise,” Finn choked out.

“There’s no need to pay me back,” Burt said, putting a hand on Finn’s shoulder. “This is a gift. You’ve been doing a great job and you deserve this.” That was Finn’s undoing. He grabbed Burt in a hug and openly sobbed.

“Thank you so much,” Finn sobbed. Burt gave a chuckle and hugged Finn back. Carol had tears falling down her face. She knew about this but it still tugged at her heart strings when Finn broke down.

“Finn, you deserve this car now pull yourself together and go look at her,” Burt said. Finn pulled away and roughly brushed the tears out of his face.

“I can’t thank you enough, Burt,” Finn said, still a bit choked up. They walked over to the car and Burt went back over to the spectators.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

**September – Age 17 – Junior Year Charlotte age 6.5 months**

Finn was officially a Junior at William McKinnley High School. He had a full semester ahead of him. His nine periods were filled.

  1. English – Ms. Pennett
  2. Algebra – Mrs. Black
  3. AP World History – Mr. Key
  4. Gym/Health – Coach Beiste, Coach Sylvester
  5. Lunch
  6. Spanish 3 – Mr. Schuester
  7. Physics – Mr. Floyd
  8. Pre-Calculus – Ms. Kidd
  9. Glee – Mr. Schuester



He was given permission to take two math classes because Dave Karofsky offered to help him if he fell behind. Finn was determined to get all of his work done. He was going to go to college, and take all the classes he could to ensure that.

He woke up early and got himself ready. Once he was done, he got Charlotte’s supplies ready before getting her up. He packed her diaper bag and put it next to his brown bag lunch. Carol had a double shift on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, so Finn also got the crock pot out of the fridge and set it on low. He would have dinner ready for when she got done at 10:00 that night. Finn puled all over their stuff into the SUV and strapped Charlotte in her seat. He drove over to the church and prepared himself to drop Charlotte off to the daycare for the first time. He knew what needed to happen and he knew the ladies who ran the daycare. He liked them, but it was still nervous.

“Come now Child,” Ms. Eldridge chided. “You need to be getting to school.”

“I know,” Finn sighed. “This is the longest time someone other than Mom’s watching her.

“How’s about I text you every once in a while?” she offered, rocking Charlotte in her arms.

“Would you really?” Finn inquired, a smile on his face.

“Of course I will,” she smiled. “Now you just leave her bag and skedaddle on to school. I’ll see you here for work at three.”

“Thanks Ms. Eldridge,” Finn said gratefully. He left the messenger bag that Dave and Puck had gone in on when Charlotte was born. “See ya at three.”

Finn arrived at school early and got a parking spot next to Sue’s Le Car. He felt strangely safe parking there. He dropped off his afternoon class supplies off in his locker. He then went to Coach Beiste’s office to say a quick hello before class, but she wasn’t there. His next stop was Ms. Pillsbury’s office.

“Hello there Finn,” she greeted cheerfully from her desk.

“Hey Ms. P, how’s it going?”

“All prepped and ready for the year. How did it go this morning?”

“I was a nervous wreck,” Finn admitted with a chuckle. He sat down in what he considered ‘his’ chair. “They promised to text me throughout the day.”

“I’m glad they are willing to work with you,” she replied. “You are a nervous 17 year old. Happy belated Birthday by the way. It was yesterday right?”

“Yeah, I can’t believe that I’m here as a 17 year old,” Finn said.

“You worked very hard this past year,” Ms. Pillsbury praised. “You should be proud of your accomplishments.”

“I know, and I am, really,” Finn insisted. “Now the real challenge comes. How am I going to balance school, work, and Char?”

“Very carefully,” she joked lightly. “You will do the best you can and If you think you have any kind of problem, please know that my door is always open.”

“Thanks Ms. P. I’m gonna just start with today and see where that goes.”

“I think you’re right. Why don’t you head to homeroom. I’ll see you back here Friday before Glee?”

“Sounds good.”

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Finn was having a good morning so far. He thought he left a notebook for his afternoon classes out in his car, so he went out at lunch time to check. When he left the doors to the school, he nearly threw up at what he had seen. His car was trashed. His windshield was smashed, wipers bent out of shape and a busted grill. Finn got his phone out and started taking pictures. There was red graffiti all over the car. They broke the back window and even wrecked the car seat. They slashed the tires. When he finished the photo session, he stormed into principal Figgins’ office.

“Someone destroyed my car!” Finn practically yelled at the principal.

“Mr. Hudson, what are you talking about?”

“I took pictures, someone demo’d my car,” he shouted again. He then pulled out his phone to show principal Figgins. As they scrolled through the pictures, Figgins’ face grew more and more concerned.

“Do you have any idea of who could have done this?” the older man asked.

“No, but I might have a way to find out who it was. Come with me,” Finn said. He stormed out of Figgins’ office and down the hallway. He walked to Sue’s office door and knocked.

“Enter,” Sue called out from inside. Finn entered Sue’s office, Figgins hot on his heels. “What’s the matter Hudson, Figgy giving you a hard time?”

“Do you still have video surveillance of your car?” Finn asked.

“Of course, I don’t want any shenanigans with my LeCar,” Sue said.

“Someone demo’d my car,” Finn said quietly. “My gut told me that I should park next to you this morning.”

“Let’s go through the footage,” Sue said firmly, pulling up the security feed on her computer. “I’ve had class all morning, so I haven’t had a chance to check.”

“I need to call Burt, he’s gonna kill me,” Finn muttered. He dialed Burt as Sue and Figgins reviewed the security footage.

“Hey Finn, how’s school?” Burt’s cheerful voice said.

“Burt, do you have a tow truck available?” Finn asked.

“What happened? Are you alright? Kurt? Charlotte?”

“We’re all fine, I promise,” Finn said quickly. “I went out at lunch to get my car and someone demo’d my car. They absolutely wrecked it.”

“I’m coming to that school right now,” Burt said with a hard voice. “Did you take pictures?”

“Yes sir,” Finn replied. “Sue is checking her surveillance now to see who did it.”

“Sit tight Finn,” Burt replied before hanging up the phone.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Burt Hummel hung up his phone and went to grab the keys of the tow truck. “Bill! Someone messed up Finn’s new car. I’m going out on this one!”

“No problem Burt!” Bill called back. Burt nearly had a heart attack when Finn had called him during the school day. Something had to definitely be wrong.

It didn’t take Burt long to get to the school. He drove around to find Finn’s car and nearly fell over in his seat when he saw the damage. Burt parked the truck and called Finn back. “Come meet me at the car.”

Burt took out a pad of paper and a pen and began to write down the damage and approximations of what they would cost, minus labor. He was about to lose it when he saw the car seat. “Burt!” Finn called out.

“Who the hell did this?” Burt asked.

“We saw it on Sue’s video surveillance,” Finn explained. “I parked next to her this morning. It was Rick Nelson, that Puck-head.”

“Jake’s kid?” Burt questioned. Finn nodded. “I want Jake called down here and his kid in the office now!”

“I’ll go call his father,” Figgins offered quickly as he turned and practically ran back to his office. Burt could be quite an imposing figure when need be.

“I’m going to do this and then there will be no more said about it,” Burt said to Sue. He walked over and hugged her. “Thanks for being paranoid about your car.”

“Um, no problem,” Sue said uncomfortably. The hug broke and they walked in together to the office. “How much damage are we looking at here?”

“Well, a grand for tires, three windows, a windshield, grill, paint, detail, scratch and dent work, not to mention the car seat,” Burt went over the list. “We are probably looking around four grand, and that’s not including labor costs.”

“You better charge top dollar for that,” Sue muttered.

“I plan to,” Burt agreed.

“I’m going to go get that miscreant,” Sue growled. She stalked off to the school. No one in their right mind wouldn’t be afraid of Sue Sylvester in a time like this. Once she found his class, she went to collect Shannon Bieste before going to the cafeteria. “Nelson, get up, let’s go!” The hockey player froze. He slunk down in his seat, trying not to be seen. “I don’t think you heard me,” Sue said, walking over to where the red head was seated. She grabbed the jock by the back of his neck and hauled him out of his seat. “I said come on, get up, and let’s go!”

While Shannon Bieste was a bit confused as to why she was being brought in on this situation, she followed Sue out on her little ‘field trip’. She was pretty sure that she would be finding out soon enough. The three of them went Figgin’s office where Finn and Burt were waiting. “Sit down! And I’ll give you some free advice,” Sue barked. “Shut up!”

“Mr. Nelson will be here in a few minutes,” Figgins said. “Then we can discuss how we will proceed with this issue.”

“Do you mind if I call my day care?” Finn asked. Figgins nodded, looking confused. Finn dialed. “Hey Ms. Eldridge, it’s Finn. How’s Charlotte? Well, it turns out that some idiot trashed my car… yeah, that’s right… pretty much undriveable… no I’m fine… I was in class when it happened… So I might be a bit late getting to work… I’ll make up the time… I’m not sure of my ride yet… I’m glad her first day is going well… I’ll talk to you late Ms. E… Bye.”

“She happy there?” Burt asked.

“Yeah, they said she’s as happy as a clam.”

“Good,” Burt said. “You can take my truck to work. I’m taking you with me to the garage after this. You might as well go to work early and come back to pick me up. Have you called your mom?”

“No, I was going to wait until this was over,” Finn said. “I’ll text my friends and let them know what’s going on.” He sent out a group text to Puck, Kurt, Artie, Mercedes, Tina, Mike, Matt, Karofsky, Santana, and Brittany just briefly explaining what was going on. “Principal Figgins, can you call Ms. Pillsbury down?” The Indian man nodded. Not a minute later she came in and Sue filled her and Shannon in on what had happened.

Shortly after Emma arrived, Jake Nelson came in, looking quite pissed off. “What the hell is going on?”

“Your son was caught destroying another student’s car,” Figgins started off.

“You caught him doing what?”

“I went out to my car at lunch time and found my car like this,” Finn said. He showed Mr. Nelson his pictures. With each passing picture, Jake’s face grew more and more angry. There was a final look of disgust when he saw the picture of the destroyed car seat.

“You did this?” Jake asked his son.

“They got nothing on me!” Rick protested.

“We actually have him on video surveillance,” Figgins interjected.

“Did you do this?” Jake asked Rick again. Rick was silent. “I see there’s my answer. Principal Figgins, what is the harshest punishment that fits this crime?”

“I’m suggesting that he receive two weeks of out of school suspension and probation until at least Christmas break.”

“He should pay for the damages to the car,” Sue said angrily. “Burt, give your estimate.”

“Just going over basics. The damage is around $4000,” Burt said. “Not counting labor costs.”

“He will pay back every cent,” Jake said. “And he’ll go out and buy a car seat. Finn, if you would write down the name of the one you had. He will replace it tonight.” Finn wrote down the model on a post it and gave it to Mr. Nelson.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Burt drove back to the shop with Finn in the tow truck. The guys at the shop couldn’t believe that kids would do something like this to anyone else’s car. Burt got the car up on the lifts and started getting rid of the broken parts. Finn got Burt’s personal truck and headed over to the day care. It was almost 2:00 by the time he arrived there and checked in with the ladies. He got a hug from Charlotte and immediately he felt better. She did seem pretty happy with the day care and being away from him for an extended period of time. Once Finn explained his situation and showed off the pictures, the ladies were sympathetically angry with all that happened. Once they were done with their ranting, they let Finn get to his job. He was essentially the janitor there for three days a week. Today he had a lot to do, but it was certainly helping him keep his mind off his car. He vacuumed the carpeted rooms, mopped the tiled floors, emptied the trashcans, cleaned the kitchens and bathrooms, and dusted up in the sanctuary. It was a rather large church so it took nearly all of the three hours. It was 5:30 when he finished up.

“Hey Burt,” Finn said into the phone as he dialed his step-father’s number. “I’m all finished up here, do you want me to come pick you up?”

“Yeah, stop down and I’ll let you pick out a spare car that we have here and take it home until we fix up your car,” Burt replied.

“You don’t have to do that,” Finn said. He was just going to submit it to the insurance and get a rental, but then again, he figured Burt knew what he was talking about.

“I’m not taking no for an answer,” Burt said. “Come on down and we can talk more about it.”

“No problem,” Finn said before hanging up the phone. He turned to the ladies who had Charlotte. “Thanks for everything you ladies do. You’re very understanding.”

“You are a good young man. You are doing everything for Charlotte and that idiot child had to go and mess things up.”

“You’re right about that one,” Finn admitted.

“And you don’t give yourself near enough credit,” she chided gently. Finn blushed. “You are doing a great job taking care of that precious little girl.”

He went about gathering up all his stuff, and all of Charlotte’s before they headed out to meet Burt at the garage. Finn was very glad that Burt kept a car seat in his truck. They babbled back and forth to each other in the truck as they drove. Burt was waiting for them just outside the bay doors, talking to his right hand man, Bill.

“Hey kid, how was work?” Burt asked as Finn pulled up and lowered the window to talk.

“Not too bad, it was good to keep my mind off things,” Finn admitted. “How is the car coming?”

“We got all the damaged parts off, and all the doors off,” Burt said. “They are going to strip the paint job tonight and get everything sanded down so I can really inspect for body damage tomorrow.”

“I still can’t believe he thought he could get away with this,” Finn just shook his head.

“He drug his boy in here to see the progress when school was over,” Burt said. “That kid was practically pissing his pants when Jake drug him in by his ear. Jake got a new car seat and I already installed it in the other SUV we have in the back, its white.”

“I really appreciate this Burt,” Finn said.

“It’s no problem kid,” Burt assured him. “Now I’m going to drive that car home, and get things all situated here, but you go ahead and take the truck home. I’m sure you have stuff to do there as well.”

“A few things,” Finn admitted. “I’ll see you at home then.”

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Finn got home and got Charlotte settled in her bouncer chair and got to work with his syllabi and a date planner. This would be his plan of attack for this marking period to start. He marked down the days of the tests and when the projects were due. This would allow him to better plan how he was going to get things done with Charlotte and everything. He managed to do a load of laundry and get things ready for dinner. By this time, Burt had come home and Puck and Dave brought Artie into the house. Finn got his other papers and began to fill in his planner, Puck immediately went to grab Charlotte, and Dave and Artie started in on how to get revenge on the puckhead.

Puck simply wanted to return the favor and destroy Rick’s car. Finn immediately veto’d that idea because he things Rick is getting his justification by having to pay for the repairs. Artie wanted to make sure that he knew we were serious. Their resident parapalegic wanted to seriously beat the guy up. Finn didn’t want anyone to get into trouble. Dave actually found out some good news. Rick was officially kicked off the hockey team. That was quite the revenge that Finn was looking for. The boys ended up staying and palling around until Carol got home. Puck even insisted that he put Charlotte to bed.

“What’s going on honey?” Carol asked as she walked in at 10:15.

“Why don’t you go get something to eat,” Finn suggested. “There’s a plate in the microwave. I’ll say good night and then come fill you in.”

“Okay,” Carol agreed hesitantly.

“Alright guys, I’ll see you tomorrow morning. Thanks for bringing me my stuff and hanging with me.”

“No problem man,” Dave said. “What are friends for?” The three boys headed out and Finn went to join Carol in the kitchen.

“You going to tell me why your car isn’t in the driveway and why a white SUV is taking its place?” Carol asked. Finn immediately took out his phone and showed her the pictures and filled her in on the events of the day. Once he was done showing her the pictures she had just one question at the moment. “Who?”

“Jake Nelson’s kid,” Finn answered. “Burt really helped me out today.”

“He never told me,” Carol said.

“We didn’t want to worry you,” Finn said. “He towed the car and Jake said Rick was going to replace the car seat. But said he could do the repairs in the shop.”

“Honey, I’m so sorry this happened to you,” Carol lamented. “How much did Burt say that it was going to cost?”

“Somewhere around $4000,” Finn replied. “But probably more because he is really pissed about the car seat. And that’s just the parts. He said he is going to charge through the nose for labor.”

“I hope that Jake is making that miscreant get a job and pay for it, not just pay out of pocket.”

“Either that or Jake is going to pay it off and make Rick pay it back, with interest,” Finn shrugged.

“So… how did work go? If you did go?” Carol asked.

“I went, Burt let me take his truck. It went well. It was something that kept my mind off of the whole situation.”

“I’m glad that helped,” Carol replied. “I bet those ladies were pissed when they heard what happened.”

“They offered to take up a collection to help me pay to get the car fixed, but I told them Burt’s plan and they were totally for it.”

“I bet they were,” Carol said, getting up and hugging her son. “I bet they were.”


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

**October – Age 17 – Junior year**

It was 7:00 pm on a Saturday night when Finn heard a knock on their front door. Carol was giving Charlotte her bath and going to put her to bed. Finn was about to sit on the couch and do his homework while the game was on. Dave Karofsky was at the front door, looking really nervous.

Now, it wasn’t unusual for Dave to drop by. They truly had become friends since Finn broke down and told him about Charlotte. Dave was the only non-glee football player that had stuck by Finn last year when the news got out. He was Finn’s math tutor when necessary. But what shocked Finn the most was when Dave decided to join the glee club this year. His excuse for everyone else was that he needed some performing arts credits to graduate, but Finn knew the truth. Dave could sing. And the better thing was that he liked to, but he didn’t want to seem like the nerd that joined glee club. But once he hung around with the glee kids, he didn’t really mind being seen with them. He was a bit of a country singer, but he had nothing on the new kid, Sam Evans, that kid was a whole lot of country, and the new starting quarter back.

“What’s up dude?” Finn asked worriedly. “You alright?”

“I’m not sure really,” Dave admitted. “I need to get something off my chest. I figured you were the person to tell.”

“You wanna come in?” Finn offered. Dave nodded silently. They walked into the living room and sat down on the couch. “You didn’t get anyone pregnant right?”

“Nah,” Dave chuckled. He was fiddling with his hands in his lap, looking down. “Couldn’t if I wanted to.”

“What?” Finn questioned. “Are you sick or something?”

“No, not really,” Dave replied. “But keeping this secret in is making me feel awful sick.”

“Well, what is it?”

“I’m gay.” The room was quiet for a moment before Dave began to chuckle. “That feels so much better.”

“You’re gay?” Finn confirmed. Dave nodded. “So do I have to worry about you hitting on me?”

“Nah, you’re not my type.”

“So you have a type?” Finn ribbed. Dave got red around his ears. “Come on, you let the cat out of the bag. Now I’m entitled to a bit of questioning.”

“Fine, I have a type, and it’s not a jock,” Dave admitted. “You’re okay with this?”

“Are you okay with it?” Finn asked right back.

“Well, I’ve been trying to figure this out since last year,” Dave sighed. “You told me your secret, I thought I would return the favor.”

“I think it’s brave,” Finn said honestly. “I’m glad you told me.”

“We’re still friends right?” Dave asked smally.

“Of course, dude,” Finn said. “Char still needs her Uncle Dave.” At this sentiment, tears began to fall from Dave’s face. “Awe man, you don’t need to cry.”

“I’ve been making myself sick about telling you this for so long. You’re my best friend,” Dave explained through his tears. “I could have lost my best friend I could have lost my niece.”

Carol Hudson walked into the room when Dave was talking. “Oh sweetheart, what’s the matter?” She came around the couch and put her arm around Dave, looking concerned.

“I’ve been keeping a secret and I just realized how much it really doesn’t matter,” Dave said. “Ms. Hudson, I’m gay.”

Carol let out a sigh of relief. “The way you were going on. I thought you had cancer or were dying or something.”

“Sometimes that’s how I felt when I didn’t tell anyone,” Dave admitted. “I told my parents last night. They are kinda wigged. But I think they might be okay with it… eventually.”

“Well it’s not much, but we have a trundle bed, you could stay here if you need to,” Carol said.

“Thanks, I think I’m going to start telling people soon, but if you guys could keep this under wraps for now, that would be sweet.”

Carol kissed Dave’s forehead and smiled. “Of course dear, but a word of advice… tell the Hummel’s next.”

“Why?” Dave asked, confused.

“Because you should tell the boy whose ass you’re always staring at,” she smirked and made her exit from the room.

“Your mom really notices too much,” Dave said. “Did you?”

“In hind sight, I guess so,” Finn shrugged, rubbing his face. “But I agree with mom, you need to tell Kurt next, and Burt.”

“I know,” Dave sighed. “It’s just hard.”

“You told me,” Finn pointed out.

“Yeah, but I’m not crushing on you,” Dave pointed out.

“True, but I get the feeling that he would understand, probably best out of all of us,” Finn said.

“I know,” he sighed. “Could I convince you to come with me?”

“Well, you could come tell him when he comes over to visit on Tuesday,” Finn suggested.

“He come every Tuesday?”

“Typically every Tuesday and Thursday. And he and Burt come for dinner, but I could convince mom and Burt to go out on a date if that makes it easier.”

“Yeah, can I come Tuesday?” Dave asked. “Sooner the better.”

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Sunday was a “family day”. Carol, Finn, and Charlotte all went to church. They sat next to Mercedes and her family. Finn and Mercedes got up to sing. They would all head to the Hummel’s, where Kurt would steal his goddaughter. They would spend lunch with them.

After 3:00pm, the Jones would tend to go home, leaving the Hummel’s and Hudson’s alone. “Hey Finn, Kurt,” Carol said. “Could we speak with you about something?” Kurt came in from the kitchen. Burt was bouncing Charlotte up and down behind the couch. Finn was already lounging on the couch.

“What’s the matter Carol?” Kurt asked.

“We wanted to discuss something with the two of you as adults,” Burt said. “Can you handle it?”

“I’m sure we can manage,” Finn said with a chuckle.

“Carol and I have been talking of this for a few weeks,” Burt began. “We would like to consider having the Hudson’s move in here.”

“Move in here?” Kurt asked.

“Well, this house is bigger, and I really don’t see Carol and I breaking up any time in the near or distant future.”

“So how would that work?” Kurt asked.

“We figured that you could have the choice of having your rooms, or going to the basement, Finn would get the other room.”

“Can Kurt and I talk about this for a bit?” Finn asked quietly. Carol and Burt nodded and took Charlotte out back for a bit of fresh air. “Kurt, what’s going through that head of yours?”

“I’m not really sure,” Kurt said. He moved Finn’s legs down from the couch and sat next to him. “I knew things might progress, but this is quick.”

“I know, but I can see their point,” Finn said. “We are going to be leaving to go to college, and even if we don’t, they would logically want to move in with each other.”

“I know,” Kurt sighed. “So what do you want to do about rooms?”

“Well, I can work with whatever,” Finn shrugged.

“Well, it would probably be best if you took the upstairs room, and the guest room for Charlotte,” Kurt mused. “And I could design a totally new space downstairs.”

“That’s fine,” Finn said. “Thanks for thinking of Charlotte.”

“I can’t not think of her,” Kurt shrugged. “This all feels a bit surreal though.”

“True. Should we tell them to come back in?”

“I’ll get ‘em,” Kurt replied. He went out back to steal his goddaughter and invite the parents back inside.

“So did you two make a decision?” Carol asked.

“Yeah,” Finn said. “Kurt is in agreement that Charlotte needs her own room so I’ll be taking the upstairs while Kurt is eager to take on the basement.”

“You okay with this Kurt?” Burt asked. “I know this is fast.”

“I think I am,” Kurt replied honestly. “Finn and I talked about it and it’s going to be nice having all of us in the same house.”

“I’m glad you two boys are mature enough to make that decision,” Burt said. “We can start the process next week. Kurt, I know you are going to be designing the rooms, but please bear in mind that Finn isn’t like you, so his room needs to have his input.”

“I know dad,” Kurt groaned. “I’ll keep up with Finn throughout the process.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12 – Move in Day**

**Age 17 – Junior Year – November**

Finn and Kurt enlisted the help of Puck, Dave, Mike, and Sam the new kid to help renovate Burt’s place for the new occupants. They fixed up the basement to make it more livable, and helped Kurt move his furniture down there. It took them three times, but they finally got it arranged to Kurt’s liking. Tina, Britt, Mercedes, and Santana all helped with painting and making things look good. But finally, the Saturday before Thanksgiving, Finn and Burt took off from the garage and the final moving process took place. They loaded up Puck’s truck and Dave’s truck with the larger pieces of furniture and brought it all over. It took a few trips with a few car loads, but it was all moved over in one day.

**FLASHBACK**

_Kurt stopped by after Finn got home. He was the Charlotte baby sitter while Finn showered away the grease from his day at the shop. Uncle Kurt was always singing and dancing around with his beautiful niece. Charlotte would giggle when he looked silly. But this little girl got even more excited on this particular day because there was a knock at the door. Kurt danced Charlotte over to the door to see who was visiting. He wasn’t really surprised that Dave was at the door._

_“Hey Dave, come on in,” Kurt welcomed the larger guy inside. Dave gave him a small smile before shuffling into the house. “Finn’s still in the shower.”_

_“Actually, I came here to see you,” Dave said. Kurt looked rather surprised. They hung out in the large group before but Dave never specifically asked to hang out with him._

_“You’ve seen me already today,” Kurt pointed out, rocking Charlotte on his hip._

_“Well, I needed to talk to you about something away from other people,” Dave said._

_“So we meet at Finn’s house?” Kurt asked, becoming more confused by the second._

_“Well, I asked him if I could use his house or, well, he let me know that I could use his house if I wanted to,” Dave tried to say._

_“Okay…” Kurt said, trying to get Dave to spit it out what he wanted. “So what did you need to talk to me about?”_

_Dave took a deep breath and uttered the words he had been bottling up inside for so long. “I’m gay.” Kurt’s eyes widened and he promptly sat down with the baby because he was afraid he would drop her. Dave walked over to Kurt and held out his hands for Charlotte. Kurt transferred the baby easily._

_“You’re gay?” Kurt asked finally. Dave nodded, sitting with Charlotte on his lap in the large arm chair. “I’m glad you’re not hiding, but I’m still kind of confused.”_

_“I know, which is why I wanted to tell you in person rather than you hear it through the grapevine somehow at school,” Dave explained. “I’ve made you freshman year hell. I know that and I’m truly sorry. I joined the football team and they always made fun of the gay kids. To stay in their good graces, I just went along with that. I know it was wrong, but I was terrified to go through that.”_

_“Wow,” Kurt breathed. “Thanks for the apology. It hasn’t been necessary, especially after this year. You have been such a different person since you’ve started hanging out with Finn and even Puck. I am not sure that I can fully realize how you felt, being a closeted jock and all.”_

_“I was scared for sure, but I would have been more scared in your position,” Dave replied. “You’re taking this far better than I’d hoped.”_

_“Granted, it’s not every day that one of the popular jocks is gay,” Kurt agreed. “But you’re quite brave for coming out.”_

_“Not as brave as you,” Dave pointed out._

_“Look, you don’t look like – and I quote_ – “the mayor of gaytown _”, I really stood no chance of hiding in the closet. You did a brave thing,” Kurt reiterated, trying to drive his point home. “So who’d you tell?”_

_“So far, my parents, who are really trying to be supportive, Finn, Carol, and Charlotte here.”_

_“I’m glad you’ve considered to tell me before you let the rest of our friends know.”_

_“I know I’ve hurt you quite a bit,” Dave said. “And I knew I need you in my corner.”_

_“Of course I’ll be in your corner,” Kurt said reassuringly. “The friend you’ve been to Finn this past year has made me realize that you are a good person.”_

_“You have no idea what this means to me,” Dave said, his voice thick with emotion. Finn took this opportunity to come over to the living room. He grabbed his daughter from Dave and plopped on the couch next to Kurt._

_“Dave, who’s playing?” he asked._

_“There’s a D3 game on, nothing too exciting,” he replied, roughly brushing his eyes with his sleeves._

_“Better than nothing,” Finn shrugged, sparing Dave from his potentially embarrassing situation._

**END FLASHBACK**

Everyone who had gathered from school to help them move now knew about Dave’s little secret, and some of the girls had taken him under their wing to help him get Kurt to notice him more. Little did the girls know that Kurt already half had his eye on Dave as it was. He did have a thing for muscular men. But he wasn’t going to say anything because he didn’t think he was Dave’s type.

Dave was finishing up moving Kurt’s bed in the proper place when everyone went upstairs to start putting Charlotte’s crib together in the former spare room. Kurt was looking over at Dave, seeing him grunt and push the heavy bed back. There was just something about how his muscles flexed under his McKinnley High Football t-shirt. There was a reason Kurt enjoyed going to the football games with some of his friends, to see the burly guys who played. No matter if they made his life a living hell. Dave was one of the ones who bullied him, but it was mostly verbal, he didn’t hurt his physically, unlike some of the others on the team. Sure Puck threw him in the dumpster, but some of the others would body check him in the hallway and he would fall or hit the lockers. There were degrees of bullying, and, especially now that Dave came out to him, there were offenses that were certainly more forgivable than others. Kurt forgave Dave in his heart on the spot when he came out, but Dave still tended to worry about it.

“Hey Dave,” Kurt said.

“Yeah?” Dave questioned, looking over at the thin young man.

“I know that you’re still bothered by all the bullying you did,” Kurt said.

“Were you eavesdropping?” Dave accused.

“I was, but to be fair, I was going to the other room and I heard you talking and my name came up,” Kurt replied. “But I just want you to know, that I don’t care that you did that stuff. I mean I do care, but I forgive you. You verbally bullied me for years, but now I realize that you were holding in this big secret, and the fact that I was out and proud was probably too much.”

“Wow,” Dave breathed, going to sit down on the small settee at the foot of the bed. “Um, I really do feel bad for all those things I said to you. I was definitely sure that you would hate me forever.”

“I don’t think I could ever hate you,” Kurt replied softly.

“But I was awful to you,” Dave insisted.

“Yes, verbally you were,” Kurt agreed. “You called me all the nasty names in the book but you did not physically hurt me once, it was mostly Adams that did that.”

“He is definitely someone I’m not looking forward to finding out I’m gay,” Dave sighed.

“If he can’t accept you, then there isn’t much to that friendship,” Kurt said dismissively.

“I can’t believe you are for real right now,” Dave said. “You really forgive me?”

“Yeah, I do,” Kurt said, joining Dave on the settee. “You’re not a bad guy once you get past the macho asshole persona that you have projected the past few years.”

“Well, it got me by,” Dave shrugged.

“I know, and if I could have hid myself, I probably would have done the same thing,” Kurt admitted. “It takes a lot of courage to leave that behind.”

“I’m really glad you’re on my side.”


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13 – Christmas Time Is Here**

**December-Junior year – age 17**

Carol and Burt decided to host a Christmas party for the New Directions and their families. It honestly was easier for Finn, having Charlotte, for the party to be hosted at their house. They had been setting up the living room all Saturday afternoon after Finn returned from work. Carol had Charlotte, so Kurt was in the kitchen, getting food ready; Burt was helping Finn move the furniture so there was optimal space for seating. Dave came over and helped with the heavy lifting. His parents came and chatted with Burt and Carol.

“Things getting any better?” Finn asked Dave as soon as his parents were out of ear shot.

“I guess so,” Dave shrugged. “Mom’s better about treating me like she always did. But Dad’s still pretty awkward. He asked me if I thought anyone on the Bears are hot.”

“Oh come on,” Finn chuckled. “That’s pretty funny.”

“He tries but it all comes out so awkward.”

“So have you told him you don’t like jocks, but Kurt’s more your type?”

“Baby steps dude, baby steps,” Dave laughed. They pushed the sofa against the wall and began to bring in some folding chairs from the shed out back. Soon, all the furniture was in place and cleaned off. People were starting to come. Artie was wheeled into the house and parked by Puck. Both their parents were Jewish, but Artie’s parents just didn’t celebrate the holidays and Puck’s mom was working. Santana and Brittany came in next; both had trays of desserts for the downstairs party. Kurt had graciously given up his room in the spirit of the holidays to host a teen party down there away from parents. Carol brought Charlotte out and Santana scooped her up before Puck could even get close.

“Hola Chicka!” Santana crooned. Charlotte was happy to see a new face. She clapped as Santana jiggled her around. Finn had a big smile on his face. He truly was a proud father. Puck noticed his friend staring at the two girls.

“You’re staring dude,” Puck said, nudging Finn with his shoulder.

“No, I’m not,” Finn insisted ardently, a blush creeping up his cheeks. “I just like seeing Charlotte happy.”

“She does that when she sees me as well, but you sure as hell don’t stare and blush,” Puck pointed out smugly.

“Ugh,” Finn groaned, and punched Puck in the shoulder.

“Just talk to her tonight,” Puck urged. “Can’t hurt.”

“No one our age wants to date someone with a kid,” Finn sighed resignedly.

“You’ll never know until you try,” Puck said sagely.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Finn played host to his age group and was generally happy to see who had come. Only one person rubbed him the wrong way. Rachel came, despite her very vocal dissing Christmas in favor of Chanukah. She mingled among people but no one seemed truly happy to see her. Even amongst the glee kids she wasn’t super popular.

Finn tried to let the weird feeling about Rachel but he just couldn’t when he heard Charlotte scream. Rachel had asked to hold her and Mercedes graciously passed Charlotte over. Once Charlotte was in a new set of arms and saw a face she didn’t seem to like, she screamed. She held Charlotte far from her body as they child screamed and tried to squirm away.

“Puta, give her to me,” Santana ordered. She grabbed Charlotte from the Jewish girl and cuddled her close. “Shh, little Char. You’re alright, Yentle’s not gonna get you. Auntie Tana’s got you.”

That was a sign from God for Finn. He always felt weird when Rachel flirted with him and this just confirmed thigs. And it also gave him the shove he needed to talk to Santana a bit more. “Thanks San.”

“It’s no problem, stroller meat,” she replied. Charlotte calmed down. “I couldn’t let man hands drop the little chicka.”

“Yeah, that was really weird,” Finn agreed. “I can take her if you want.”

“Nah, she’s my girl for a while,” Santana said beaming down at the little girl. They danced away together. Kurt silently sidled up next to Finn.

“I’ve never seen her be that nice,” Kurt commented.

“But she’s been nice to me for the last few months,” Finn defended.

“I’ve also heard a rumor that she very well may have a crush on you.”

“No way,” Finn said in disbelief.

“Yes way,” Kurt chirped.

“I highly doubt it,” Finn replied. “Who the hell would want to date a 17 year old single father? Especially someone who until pretty recently called me ‘manboobs’.”

“You’d be surprised about what the girls at school think about you,” Kurt said offhandedly.

“Mmm,” Finn replied noncommittally.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Finn put Charlotte to bed around 8:30 and she passed out from all the excitement. He hooked her baby monitor to his jeans and went back to mingling. Around 10, Burt called everyone up from the basement to have a Christmas toast.

“I’d like to thank you all for joining us tonight. This past year or so has shown me a new way of life. It all started through that thing we all call Facebook. Finn messaged Kurt and my life was truly changed,” Burt began. “Now, Lima isn’t too big a place, so I’ve seen Carol for quite a few years. But when I get to talk to the Hudson’s over the initial dinner, I was hooked. Carol and Finn have already moved in, but I have one more question to ask.” Burt got down on one knee, drawing a box out of his jeans pockets. “Carol Anita Hudson, will you make me the happiest man in the world and marry me?”

Carol looked like she was going to cry. Kurt did have tears falling down his face. Finn was incredibly excited. “Oh Burt, I don’t even know what to say.”

“Say yes Mom,” Finn urged loudly from across the room, causing the party guests to laugh.

“Yes,” Carol replied, giddy and crying at the same time. Burt had the biggest smile on his face. He took the ring from its’ velvet cushion and placed it on her left ring finger. He rose from the floor and kissed Carol for all she was worth. Finn went over and picked up Kurt in a bone crushing hug. Kurt let him, because he was too happy to protest. Finn also carried Kurt over to their parents and they all had a group hug.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

After all the hubbub of the proposal, only a few people were left: Santana, Mercedes, Puck, Artie, and Dave. They had taken over the living room. Kurt, Mercedes, Puck and Dave were strewn over the couch and armchair. Artie was parked in between the two seats. Santana and Finn had taken over the love seat. They were seated far closer than necessary since it was only the two of them sitting there. She had her legs draped over his lap and he was resting his arms around her knees. “I don’t think I’ve ever asked, but what happened to your dad?” Santana asked quietly, playing lightly with the hair on his forearm. “Kurt told us about his mother, but you never really said.”

“Yeah, I guess I was kinda embarrassed. Mom told me the whole story once. I was like ten. He was in the army, which was cool I guess. But he couldn’t really handle it. So he turned to drugs, pills at first, but then he got into the harder things, cocaine and heroin. He got caught and was dishonorably discharged,” Finn said softly. He secretly enjoyed the feeling of Santana so close and touching him. “He came back to mom, and I was born by then. But he couldn’t shake the drug habit. They found him in an abandoned warehouse in Lima Heights Adjacent, dead from an overdose.”

“Wow, I never knew,” Santana said. “That’s why you wouldn’t drink with us.”

“Alcohol is a gateway in my opinion,” Finn shrugged. “I’m glad Mom’s gonna marry Burt.”

“From the little I’ve seen them, they seem really good together.”

“Yeah, he’s been great,” Finn said fondly. “Really good about my work hours and good with Charlotte.”

“Well, who couldn’t just love all up on that little girl,” Santana replied.

“Well, I wish that could be true,” Finn sighed.

“Hey, you did the right thing,” Santana insisted. “Que is a bitch.”

“Well I know that now,” Finn chuckled. “I wished someone had told me then – but then I wouldn’t have Charlotte.”

“You got a lot of good from that crappy situation,” Santana agreed. “She was awful to everyone last year.”

“I’m just grateful that she hasn’t gone off and done something stupid or try to get Charlotte back.”

“You best believe we will all help to stop that from happening,” she whispered fiercely. Finn grabbed her hand and squeezed it in thanks.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

“Dude, you were out there for quite a while,” Finn pointed out to Kurt as he walked back through the front door. Everyone else left and Kurt had walked out with Dave to see him off. “I thought you hated the cold.”

“Believe me, I do,” Kurt replied dazedly. “Dave kissed me.”

“What?” Finn questioned in disbelief.

“He kissed me while we were saying goodbye.”

“Is that a good thing?” Finn asked. “He didn’t force you or anything?”

“No, he went slow, gave me time to say no,” Kurt said firmly. “That was my first kiss.”

“Really? Cause I figured you would have at least tried to kiss a girl or something.”

“I mean, Brittany tried once but I just couldn’t do it,” Kurt sat down next to Finn on the couch.

“So…” Finn prompted.

“You really wanna hear about this?”

“Well, I’m not gonna get any any time soon,” Finn reasoned. “I might as well live it out through you.”

“Fine, I’m dying to tell someone about it,” Kurt let out a sigh of relief. “I honestly didn’t know Dave thought of me like that.”

“I did,” Finn shrugged. “He stares at your ass dude.”

“He does not,” Kurt gasped.

“Even Puck noticed and so you know it’s bad,” Finn pointed out.

“Was I really that oblivious? Anyway, I wasn’t expecting it but boy howdy he can kiss.”

“Well, he’s kissed a few girls in his day,” Finn pointed out.

“I know that,” Kurt groused. He wasn’t fond of the fact that Dave had some history with girls. “But I’m choosing to look at it as if he was practicing for me.”

“That’s definitely a better way to look at it,” Finn agreed. “Do I need to give him the shovel speech?”

“They shovel speech?” Kurt questioned.

“You know, the speech that people give when their people are starting to date. Like when I see Charlotte ever going on a date,” Finn explained. “Do I need to tell Dave that if he hurts you that I will hurt him?”

“I don’t think that’s particularly necessary,” Kurt said quickly. “But if things are starting to look that way, I’ll let you know.”

“You better tell me,” Finn practically growled. “You’re my brother now, and no one hurts my family.”

“I actually appreciate that,” Kurt said.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

**January – Junior Year – Age 17**

Things had changed since the Christmas party. Carol and Kurt were giddy over planning the July wedding. Dave came over to the Hummel-Hudson household more and would disappear with Kurt down in the basement when he thought no one was noticing, but no one was fooled. While they were free about things at their houses, more so at Kurt’s’, school was an entirely different ballgame. He only told a few people that he thought wouldn’t betray him. This gave him a new group of allies in the form of the glee kids. But it was certainly funny the day that Dave came over and asked Burt permission to date Kurt. Burt gave him a hard time, but it was all in good fun, and he honestly found it amusing. But what was more, was that Finn and Santana had been talking more and more.

“Hey Tana,” Finn greeted as she came over after church that Sunday.

“Sup? Where’s my girl?”

“My Mom stole her. But we were going to bundle up and go to the park in a little bit if you wanna go?”

“That could be fun” she said. Carol had just brought Charlotte out, all bundled up in winter finery. “How adorable are you sweetheart!” Santana was practically cooing at the little girl. As she ‘stole’ the baby from her grandmother. Carol gave Finn a knowing look while Santana coo’d at the infant. Finn just shrugged and went to go get his coat, hat, and gloves. They had a heck of a time keeping the mittens on Charlotte’s hands.

Once everything was packed away in the stroller, they set out for the park a few blocks away. “So, what made you want to visit today?” Finn asked, trying for nonchalance.

“I gotta have a reason?” Santana countered.

“Touche,” Finn agreed. “It’s always nice to hang with you.”

“It better be” she teased. “But honestly, I can’t stay away from these chubby cheeks for too long, or Charlotte’s either.”

“Oh,” Finn chuckled. “You calling me chubby now?”

“If the shoe fits.”

“Not cool. I try to work out when I can.”

“You have to know I’m kidding,” she said. “You don’t have time to eat enough to be chubby.”

“I know,” Finn smirked. “I just wanted you to apologize.”

“You wanted me to be nice? How dare you,” she said, aghast. “I’m not nice to anyone.”

“I beg to differ,” Finn pointed out. “You are nice to Charlotte.”

“I can’t help that she is so freaking cute,” Santana said in her baby talking voice. “And she’s still so innocent.”

“I don’t really want her to grow up,” Finn admitted.

“I wouldn’t either, all this craziness around,” she agreed. “Plus her mother is out there, that is bad enough.”

“I know, sometimes I find myself wishing for a different mother for her,” Finn sighed. “But I know things are meant to be.”

“Plus, your kid got good looks from her,” Santana teased.

“Excuse you, I’m adorable. My mommy tells me all the time.” Santana just lost it. She couldn’t stop laughing. This set off a chain reaction. Charlotte started to giggle. Then Finn couldn’t help by fit in with the group. Their laughter carried them over until they reached the park. “Char, do you wanna go on the swing?”

Charlotte was excited for the swing and reached her arms for them. Finn knelt next to her stroller and began to release her from its confines. “Mmm, stroller meat,” Santana all but purred.

“Now, you’re gonna have to explain that one to me,” Finn commented. He picked up Charlotte and began to situate her in the baby swing.

“Well, I can’t really describe it,” she began. “It’s that feeling of ‘man that guy is hot’ when you see them with their kid.”

“Really?” Finn chuckled. “You think I’m hot because I have a kid?”

“Not that specifically,” she replied. “But the fact that you stepped up and took responsibility.”

“Everyone keeps telling me that I’ve stepped up, but I don’t really see it,” Finn shrugged. “I couldn’t imagine not having Charlotte.”

“And that right there makes you different.”

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

They spent nearly an hour of pushing Charlotte on the wings. Despite the cold, all three of them were having a great time. Charlotte was smiling and giggling. Finn was taking pictures. Even Santana was playing around with Charlotte and taking selfies with the baby and Finn. They put Charlotte back in the stroller when she started looking sleepy. Within minutes she was passed out. They decided to take a walk around the outskirts of the park. They chatted about everything. It took another hour or two to walk around the park at a leisurely pace. By then, Charlotte was stirring, and it was time for her to have a bottle. They walked the few blocks back to the house.

“Today was fun,” Santana said.

“Yeah, it was,” Finn agreed. “I’m gonna get her into the warm and fed. You wanna…?”

“Thanks but I’d better go,” she replied. “Thanks for a great afternoon.”

“We’ll have to do it again sometime.” She smiled before she turned to walk the few blocks back to her house. Finn was smiling as he went into the house.

“What’s got you all smiley?” Kurt asked as he was snuggling with Dave on the couch.

“Just got back from the park,” Finn replied.

“But with who?” Dave asked. “I heard someone else out there.”

“Oh yeah,” Finn said, rubbing the back of his head nervously. “We went to the park with Santana.” Finn began to unbuckle Charlotte from her stroller and set her down on the floor to crawl around.

“So you two are hanging out now?” Kurt asked. “Last I saw was you two at the Christmas party.”

“I guess we’ve been talking since then,” Finn sighed. “And she stopped by today.”

“And she felt like accompanying you and Charlotte to the park?” Kurt asked.

“I guess so,” Finn suggested.

“So…” Kurt led.

“So what? She’s been really nice to me,” Finn said. “And apparently she thinks I’m hot.”

“She actually said that?”

“Well she called me stroller meat,” Finn began. “But after she explained what it meant was a guy and his kid, its hot. So I’m taking that to mean she is calling me hot without actually saying that.”

“That’s as close to her telling you that you’re hot to your face as you’re gonna get,” Dave commented.

“I figured as much,” Finn surmised.

“So do you see this going anywhere?” Kurt asked.

“I don’t see how it could,” Finn sighed. “I mean, I have a kid who would have possibly wanted me. A kid in high school. No one wants that kind of baggage, especially at our age.”

Kurt shrugged noncommittally but he was calling it. Something would happen between Finn and Santana would get together before the year was over.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

**March – Junior Year – Age 17**

**Charlotte’s first birthday!**

Charlotte’s first birthday turned out quite well. They had the party at the house, naturally. Carol cooked a whole bunch of food. Charlotte was pretty excited or so it seemed. Finn got her a balloon that kept her fascinated for quite a while. Kurt decorated their house with pink and zebra (which Kurt would later explain would be called chevron). Nearly everyone who had come to Charlotte’s baptism was invited to the party. Charlotte was toddling around not really having to be on her feet for long if she wished.

Charlotte, on her first birthday, had light skin and light brown hair. Her eyes were brown like her father as well. She was starting to walk and talk and it was a joy to watch her grow up. Finn cried the day she called him ‘da-da’. It had been a rollercoaster for the first year but he survived this, he would be able to continue on.

Finn was keeping up with his grades, all A’s so far. It took Dave’s help to keep him going through both classes. It also helped that the Church dropped his hours to two days a week, so he could spend more time with Charlotte. Burt, Carl, and Kurt all had permission to pick up or drop off Charlotte so she used less of the day care. Carol’s late shift allowed her to have the morning with Charlotte before dropping her off for a few hours. Occasionally Burt would do paperwork from home, so he would pick Charlotte up at noon or so and have her for the afternoon.

“So Burt,” Finn approached the man during the course of the party. “My mom has decided on Nana for Char to call her. What do you want her to call you?”

“I get a name?” Burt said, surprised.

“Well, my Dad’s dead, and you’re really her only male grandparent, especially since you’re marrying mom. Of course you get a name.”

“I never really thought about that before,” Burt scratched at his head. “I think I’d like Poppop.”

“Alright, Nana and Poppop,” Finn said with a smile. “I’ll definitely work on that with her.” This made both men very happy.

Charlotte was very excited to open her presents. The first one nearly her last because she was so enthralled by the stuffed unicorn that Brittany gave her. This made the blond cheerleader so happy but sad at the same time. “Britt brat, what’s wrong?” Artie asked. Brittany lowered herself to sit in Artie’s lap. He began to stroke her hair and waited for her to talk.

“I’m really happy Charlotte is around but I’m really sad because I feel like Quinn is so messed up. They are missing out on these time together,” Brittany explained softly. “Finn is an amazing Dad, but I feel bad that Charlotte had to grow up without a mom – not because she’s dead, but because she chose to give up her daughter.”

“You are incredibly insightful,” Artie said in amazement. “But I guess you’re right. Quinn gave her up for selfish reasons, not because she couldn’t care for her. Finn shows us all that it can be done.”

“You’re really nice,” Brittany pointed out. “And you don’t yell at me for being dumb.”

Finn looked over at Artie and Brittany. He smiled. When he turned to Santana to gauge her reaction about her best friend, he saw that she had a soft smile on her face. This could be an interesting development. Tina had broken up from Artie for Mike this past summer – a talk which Finn gave to Tina about her actions wasn’t all that pleasant. Artie needed a bit of companionship, aside from Puck. That whole relationship seemed to come out of the blue. But it worked for them.

Charlotte sat there oblivious to her extended family’s relationship developments. She was tearing through paper and Finn was on card duty. Santana offered to write down the list of gifts, so he could write out the appropriate thank you cards. They were sitting rather close together, their legs touching. Once all the gifts and cards were opened, Charlotte sat in the middle and played with everything.

“I think I’m gonna try to get her a swing set this summer,” Finn said. “Not that we won’t go to the park but it’d be nice to have one in our back yard.”

“That’d be nice, especially when she gets to be a bit older,” Santana agreed. Finn laid his hand flat out between them, allowing Santana to make the next move. More she did. She laid her hand lightly on his and laced her fingers through his.

“I can’t believe my baby is one,” Finn mused. “I feel like it was just yesterday I found out she even existed.”

“It’s been quite a journey,” she agreed. “I was worried about you at first.”

“Why?”

“Well, Q, once the news got out, told us all she was going to give up the baby,” Santana explained. “And every time she said it around you, you looked like she was ripping your heart out.”

“She was. From the second she told me that she was pregnant, I was hooked,” Finn said. “But as soon as she told me she was giving the baby up, and that I had no choice in the matter, I went to see how I could go get custody. Charlotte was end game for me.”

“And look how far you two’ve come.”

“Yeah, we’ve come pretty darn far.”

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

A while later Carol whisked Charlotte away to put her into a baby poncho. It was time for the cake. Kurt had a half a sheet cake made. Half chocolate, half vanilla. The base icing was white, hot pink piping around the border, chevron pattern around the sugar picture on the cake. The picture was Finn holding a swaddled Charlotte for the first time in the hospital. “Dude, this cake is amazing! Finn said, holding his fist out for Kurt to bump.

“I’m glad you like it,” Kurt chuckled. Finn lit the number 1 candle and Burt hit the lights.

“Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday dear Charlotte! Happy Birthday to you!” everyone sang to the little girl. She clapped her hands together. Finn ‘helped’ blow out the candle. Kurt was already on cake duty. He got a piece sliced out and put it in front of Charlotte on her high chair. In typical one year old fashion, she smashed the cake to bits and shoved it in his mouth. Everyone laughed. Finn made sure to get lots of pictures. He wanted Charlotte to enjoy these moments again when she was older.

Everyone enjoyed their cake. They got pictures with the birthday girl as well. Once she began to nod off the party cleared out when Finn went to put her down for a nap. When he returned, Santana was busy cleaning up the living room. It was half done when he joined up.

“You don’t have to help clean up you know,” Finn said simply.

“Well, I didn’t want it all on you,” she reasoned. “Burt, Carol, and Kurt are working on the kitchen. I told them we’d get out here.”

Finn acted upon instinct. He strode over to the Latina and planted a kiss right on her lips. Once their lips made contact, Finn froze. He couldn’t believe how bold he was acting. No one moved for a second or two, but then Santana began to kiss back. Feeling her movements, Finn continued to kiss her, wrapping one arm around her waist and one pressed lightly to her cheek. She in return put both her hands on his chest. Unbeknownst to the lip locked couple, all three of the kitchen clean-up crew peered out and saw them. Kurt kept them quiet and they went back to their duties. A few moments longer, they broke apart, looking at each other.

“Wow,” Finn breathed.

“You got that right,” she giggled.

“I don’t know what came over me,” Finn said. “I saw you helping and had an overwhelming urge to kiss you.”

“I’m glad you did,” she admitted. “I’m really starting to like you, Hudson.”

“Likewise, Lopez.”


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

**April – Junior Year – Age 17**

Time had not been in Finn’s favor. He was working hard for his classes, Burt asked him to pick up Wednesdays at the shop for the month; one of the other workers hurt himself and was out. He saw Santana at school but that was pretty much it. He wished he could see her more.

“I’m never going to be able to go on a date,” Finn groaned. Charlotte was in bed and Carol was sitting in the living room watching TV. Finn sat at his computer desk, putting his head down on the desk.

“You’ll be able to date,” Carol assured him.

“But there’s no time,” Finn groaned. “I just wanna take her for a picnic, but I can’t manage to find any time.”

“You know, you have covered a lot of other people’s shifts at the shop,” Carol pointed out. “Why don’t you ask Burt if you could have off this Saturday?”

“I don’t like calling out of work,” Finn said warily.

“But you never call out,” she assured him. “And after this date, you could invite her over for Sunday lunch or something.”

“You’d let her come to Sunday lunch?”

“Why not Dave’s here at least twice a month,” she said, a smile on her face. Carol was very happy for Kurt; he deserved a bit of happiness. Dave had become a regular fixture around the Humdle household.

“Alright, I’ll ask Burt if I can take Saturday off then,” Finn decided.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o**

After a bit of ribbing, Burt agreed to let Finn have Saturday off. Burt was secretly pleased that Finn was going to start dating. Kurt was finally happy, and dating a seemingly good kid. Dave might have bullied Kurt in the past, but now he treated Kurt like gold. Finn got a raw deal with that Quinn girl. At least Santana seems genuinely interested in him. And bonus, she was in love with sweet little Charlotte. Who couldn’t love that little girl.

“What do you guys think of this Lopez girl? Burt asked the two teenagers in his living room.

“She was one of the hot loca’s but she seems kinda mellow this year,” Dave commented.

“She was kind of like the female Puck,” Kurt mentioned.

“Please tell me past tense,” Burt begged. Puck had quite a reputation around Lima. Not all of innocent.

“Yeah,” Kurt said dismissively. “She has slept with most of the football team.”

“You?” Burt asked, looking at Dave.

“Nah, I’m not her type,” Dave chuckled. “Too much body hair.”

“But she’s changed?”

“Totally. She’s ass over tea kettle for Finn,” Kurt said.

“Good,” Burt sighed. “He needs someone.”

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

“Lopez! My office, now!” Sue Sylvester barked after Cheerio’s practice. Slightly confused, Santana followed the tall blond coach down the hallway and into the office. “Sit.”

“What’s up coach?” Santana asked.

“I heard you have a date tomorrow,” Sue said.

“Where did you hear that?”

“Lady face was gossiping about it with his secret gay bear cub,” Sue said dismissively. “Is it true?”

“Yes, I’m going on a date with Finn tomorrow.”

“I’ll say it once, and that’s all I should have to say on the subject,” Sue began. “As much as it pains me, I’m rather fond of Finn Hudson. He got a really raw deal with Que. If she wasn’t such a good cheerleader, I wouldn’t be having much to do with her. But that little girl is quite precious. I am not going to let them be hurt in any way. So you need to be sure about this.”

“You’re giving me the shovel speech?” Santana asked incredulously.

“Yes,” Sue said simply.

“Sure,” Santana agreed. “I really like him. And I freaking love that kid.”

“Good. You’re free to go.”

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Finn showed up at Santana’s house at noon on Saturday. He was still having some anxiety over taking off work and Carol having Charlotte for the day. He was quite nervous about seeing Santana’s parents. Finn knocked on the door.

“Hello son,” Santiago Lopez greeted. He was shorter than Finn, but still intimidating.

“Hey Dr. Lopez, is Santana here?”

“She’ll be right now,” he said easily. “Step inside for a minute.”

Finn followed the man into the house. Although Dr. Lopez was a surgeon, they didn’t seem to live above their means. Their house was visually modest and it suited them. “Santana Admira Lopez, your date is here!”

“Alright Papi!, 2 seconds,” Santana called out from the upstairs. True to her word, she was down very soon after her announcement. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Finn replied, accepting her hug. Dr. Lopez eyed them closely, but said nothing. “You ready?”

“Yeah, let’s go,” she said with a smile. “Bye Papi!” Santana went over and kissed her father goodbye.

“Be safe,” he warned.

“We will,” she replied. They couple left the house and went to Finn’s car. He opened the door for her and he got a 1000 watt smile in return. Once she was buckled in, he pulled out of the driveway and they were on their way. “So where are we going?”

“We are… gonna have a picnic down by the lake,” Finn said grinning.

“Well, aren’t you a romantic,” she teased.

“I’m allowed to be romantic,” Finn defended. “You’re the first girl that I can do this with.”

“Never did this with Queen Bitch?”

“Nah, it was all about status with her,” Finn replied. “You’re just becoming a social pariah just to date me.”

“Never. I’m too awesome to be a pariah,” she replied, laughing.

“True,” Finn agreed. He drove a short distance down to the lake and parked. They grabbed the basket and cooler Finn had packed and made their way down to the ‘shoreline’. Once Santana picked out a spot she deemed appropriate, Finn spread out a blanket for them to sit on.

“I can’t believe we are doing this,” she said. “It’s such a cliché.”

“But that’s why you like me,” Finn teased.

“Lord help me,” she giggled.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

While their picnic wasn’t a five star gourmet meal, Santana loved that he actually made the PBJ sandwiches instead of making his mom do it. They were able to sit and enjoy themselves – no nosy friends, and, although she was adorable, no Charlotte. It was slightly freeing being without responsibilities for a few hours.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

**May – Junior Year – Age 17**

**AP exam prep**

“Thanks for doing this Coach,” Finn said. He had brought Charlotte to Coach Beiste’s apartment – at her request – so he could study for his AP exams at the end of the month. And so she could get some quality Charlotte time in.

“Ah hush, Hudson,” she replied. “I’m here to help as a Charlotte-minder and study aid.”

“Yeah, Kurt’s kinda killing me with all of his singing breaks and his aromatherapy,” Finn grunted. He carried Charlotte in and his book bag, and her diaper bag. Coach grabbed the child and her bag to relieve Finn. He smiled gratefully.

“So which subjects did you bring?”

“They all gave me study guides to complete so I figured I would bring them all,” he replied. “I have an AP test for US history 1, but I brought stuff for physics, spanish, algebra, and pre-calc.”

“You really are all out Hudson,” Coach said, quite impressed.

“Well, I need to get it done,” Finn shrugged. “Next year is gonna be rough.”

“What did you pick for next year?

“Calculus, AP English, AP Spanish, AP Biology, AP Chemistry, and AP US History 2,” Finn counted. He thought it sounded crazy but he knew he would work it out. Finn was more determined to make things work. He would go to college and create a better life for Charlotte.

Coach Beiste took Charlotte and bounced her around while Finn set up at her kitchen table. He got his work out in piles, organized by subject. Finn took his algebra book out and got started on his homework. He had a simple assignment, only 20 problems from the current chapter. But then he began writing up a cheat sheet that he could study from.

Fromm algebra he moved right into his pre-calc work. Coach fed Charlotte during his homework time and it only too him an hour and a half to complete all his math work. Next he tackled physics. There were some problems to do and a study packet to complete. Thank took another hour and a half to finish. They ordered pizza and hung around for a while.

“Thanks so much Coach, I got a lot done,” Finn said gratefully. “Been a huge help.”

“You know how much I love this little girl,” Coach said. “You sure you don’t need any more study time?”

“I got a lot done already,” Finn said. “I wanna get her tubbed and bedded down. I’ll finish my last two subjects then.

“Alright, offer stands for next week as well,” she offers.

“Thanks Coach.”

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Once Finn returned home, he walked into wedding central. Carol and Kurt were sitting on the floor, seating charts all around them. “Hey all,” Finn greeted.

“Hey,” Carol and Kurt intoned simultaneously.

“Putting her to bed,” he explained, walking upstairs. “Homework, if you need me.”

They were so involved in their plans – with the wedding only 2 months away – they didn’t pay Finn much mind. He went up and started their bedtime routine. Charlotte got her bath, and bottle, and a lullaby. He decided on Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah. She was asleep in short order, so Finn was able to get done his Spanish work and his AP US History 1 work. Because there were no distractions. He was able to get nearly all of it done before midnight. Charlotte woke up, so he had to go ahead and rock her back to sleep after a bottle. With all of his pressing work done, Finn decided to pack it in for the night. While he was well and truly exhausted, he wouldn’t have his life any other way.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

**June – Junior Year – Age 17**

The Junior year of Finn Hudson had absolutely flown by, in his opinion. His daughter turned one, he passed his AP exam, and the Glee Club went to Nationals. While they only won 12th place, it was still good to go. It was, however, difficult for Finn to leave Charlotte for those 3 days.

Now here they were, their last glee club meeting of the school year. Mr. Schue was pretty much letting each of them sing a song of their own choosing. The song they were feeling in that moment. There were songs from every genre.

Puck serenaded the club with his rendition of ‘Sweet Caroline’. He played his guitar and the rest of the choir ended up joining in and laughing along. Artie sang a Michael Jackson song, ‘Man in the Mirror.’ He had the right amount of soul to sing the song and everyone was swaying along in the end. Mike didn’t sing this time, but he danced along to the old Usher song ‘Yeah 3x’. He was truly amazing. There was no one else who could move like this guy. Everyone would be surprised if he didn’t have a connection with a dance school or join a company after he graduated from McKinnley. Tina gave them a beautiful rendition of ‘Shake it Off’ by Florence and the Machine. That was truly her calling, singing that genre of music. Mercedes knocked their socks off by singing ‘How do I know’ by Whitney Houston. Brittany got up and made everyone giggle by singing ‘Tik Tok’ by Ke$ha. The Newest member to the club, Sam, got up and got them all up singing ‘Red Solo Cup’. Mr. Schue even got up and gave them a song. He sang ‘Sway’.

Kurt got up on the make shift stage and belted out ‘Roses Turn.’ He made that song his bitch. Practically everyone was on their feet cheering. Some of the other teachers had walked in on this little celebration and were enjoying the quality and diversity of the songs. Matt got up and almost didn’t want to go on after that slice of awesomeness. But he got up and sang ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.’ Dave even sucked it up and sang ‘Pink Houses’. Kurt and Dave were entirely different, and you could tell that by their song choices, but it was funny to see them together after all that.

When it came to Rachel’s turn, she got up and was staring at Finn. “This song is dedicated to Finn,” she said softly. She sang ‘With or Without you.’ With each passing verse, Finn sunk lower and lower into his seat, grabbing onto Santana’s hand like a life line. Rachel’s eyes refused to leave Finn the whole performance. He couldn’t even look anymore; he felt so uncomfortable.

Once she was finished the performance, Mr. Schue piped up. “Rachel, thank you for, um, that, uh, interesting performance.”

“I just wanted to make my feelings known,” she said, simpering. “They best way to do that is through song.”

“Okay,” Mr. Schue said awkwardly. “Um. Next up is Santana.”

“Good thing,” she said. “This Hobbit needs to know her place.” Santana got up and gave Finn a very thorough kiss on the lips; their first PDA in front of all their friends. She made her way up to their ‘center stage’ “Sorry ‘bout that Mr. Schue.”

“Just don’t let it happen a lot,” he warned.

“This song goes out to Rachel… Keep your hands off!” She went right into a sassy version of ‘The Boy is Mine.’

Rachel was very embarrassed. Her cheeks turned pink and she couldn’t look at anyone. All four teachers were impressed. Sue certainly thought Santana would go after the smaller girl physically and emotionally. But this was certainly a way that would ensure that Rachel got the point. This proved that she wasn’t starting to grow up a bit. Finn looked proud of Santana too. It was a wonder to see him looking at a girl again, especially after the way Quinn treated him.

Once her song was over, Santana gave a pointed look at Rachel, who subtly nodded, but said nothing. “Finn, I do believe it’s your turn.”

“Yup,” he said, smiling. “Nice song.”

“Thank you,” Santana replied, smirking.

“Well, I’m going to dedicate this song to my daughter, Charlotte Amelia,” Finn said, but he winked at Santana as well. He delved right into ‘This I Promise You.’ The performance was simply beautiful. Even Beiste shed a tear. When he was finished, he walked over to Santana and kissed her sweetly. “You coming over today?”

“Yeah, I’ll meet you there. I gotta square a few things away before I come,” she replied. Friday was his night off. He, Santana, Kurt, and Dave hung out and occasionally went out, to not well publicized areas to avoid the gossip train.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

**July – Age 17 – Summer Before Senior Year**

The day had finally arrived. Carol Hudson and Burt Hummel were going to get married. Kurt had carefully planned and budgeted everything down to the last detail, last penny. Burt wore a tux and scrubbed all the grease out from under his fingernails. Kurt couldn’t truly remember his father being this happy. Kurt – being the best man – wore a tailored black suit with an eggplant colored paisley tie. They stood together at the front of the church, looking out into the audience. While they had very little family on either side, they were accounted for. Carol’s great Aunt Enid was seated next to Burt’s Uncle Jared. The rest of their wedding guests included their church family, co-workers of Carol’s from the hospital, the guys from the garage and their families, and Finn’s/Kurt’s friends and their families. Everyone who cared about Burt and Carol were in that church today.

The gentle music changed into a – in his opinion – more manly melody as Finn began to escort his daughter down the aisle. She dutifully threw rose petals where they were walking. Everyone made the stereotypically appropriate sounds. Finn was, of course, dressed by Kurt. He was wearing a similarly cut suit but in an eggplant color the same shade as Kurt’s tie, with a black shirt and a black and eggplant pinstriped tie. Charlotte was dressed in a little while ball gown; quite literally a Kurt creation. He was starting to put together a portfolio. Kurt was thinking of possibly becoming a wedding planner.

Finn made his way up to the front and took his place as Man of Honor and Charlotte was being help, propped on his hip. While she didn’t really know what was going on, it was still exciting because she got to see all of her favorite people. Her Nana and Poppop were all dressed up. And speaking of her Nana… the music shifted and the Wedding March began to play.

Carol appeared at the back of the church. She wore a strapless fitted dress, with a drop waist and poofy skirt. It was her dream wedding dress. Slowly she walked toward Burt and the rest of her family. They all had tears in their eyes by the time she reached them.

“It’s our great honor and privilege to bear witness to the union of Carol Hudson and Burt Hummel,” the pastor began. “These two families merge as one. We are here to surround them with love. They have decided to write their own vows, to promise before the church. Burt, go ahead.”

“Carol, it’s been quite a wild ride. I guess we have our boys to thank for that.” The guests laughed. “I never thought I’d be this happy again after Elizabeth died. But when you invited us to dinner, I knew I could be. Our house is full of laughs and warmth again. I love you so much, and I’m looking forward to spending the rest of my life with you.”

“Carol, your turn,” the pastor said.

“Burt, I can’t believe it’s been just over a year and a half since you two came over, but I wouldn’t have changed it for the world. I’m getting a husband and another son; I couldn’t be happier. I love you and the rest of our lives together cannot come soon enough.”

“Who has the rings?” Kurt fished in his pocket for the rings and handed them to the pastor. Finn totally would have joked around a bit and pretended to lose the rings, but since he had a wriggly one and a half year old to contend with, Kurt was left with this responsibility. “Burt, repeat after me. I promise to love and cherish you, have compassion and understanding, forsaking all others, in sickness and in health, til death do us part.”

Burt repeated his lines dutifully.

“With this ring, I do wed.” He slid he ring on Carol’s finger, smiling from ear to ear. The pastor repeated the process with Carol, ending with her putting the ring on Burt’s finger.

“If there is anyone who thinks these two should not be married, then speak now or forever hold your place.” The pastor looked around the church and smiled when no one got up. “Then but the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife! You may kiss the bride!”

Cheers erupted from the onlookers as Carol and Burt sealed their wedding vows with a kiss. Charlotte squealed in delight for her Nana and Poppop. While she was too young to possibly understand what was going on today, they would look back when she was older and explain their whole stories.

“I am happy to announce the blessed union of Mr. and Mrs. Hummel” Everyone went spare as they walked back down the aisle, together this time. They were going to the grounds to take pictures with Kurt, Finn, and Charlotte. Everyone took the short trip to the reception hall on the other side of town.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

When Santana arrived at the reception with her parents, it was nicely decorated. They went to the table where their name cards were Santana found her name assigned to table one. Her parents were assigned to table 10. When she got there, Dave Karofsky was already there. “Well, look at you, very nice,” he complimented. Santana looked quite a cute. Her cocktail dress was a lavender color and clung to her without looking slutty. He leaned in and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

“You clean up nice too Karovsky,” she replied, brushing down the collar of his suit jacket. They were soon joined by Mercedes and Matt, Puck and Lauren Zeises.

“I guess this is the plus one’s table?” Santana asked.

“Kurt told me we would all be sitting together,” Dave said.

“I’m glad you know what’s going on,” she groused.

“Well, Kurt did plan the wedding,” he pointed out.

“Touche,” Santana replied. They all took their seats and waited for the wedding party. It didn’t take long. While they waited, there was an empty photo frame where they could all sign as the guest book. Puck, Mercedes, Santana, and Dave had more to write than Matt and Lauren. But they all had fun writing their little memories.

The DJ announced the arrival of the wedding party. Finn and Kurt danced into the hall and had Charlotte between them. Santana was on her feet taking pictures of the three of them; it was too cute of an opportunity not to take advantage of it. Kurt danced his way over to Dave and Finn scooped Charlotte up so he could give Santana a kiss “You look incredibly beautiful right now,” Finn said as he broke the kiss.

“You clean up pretty darn good Hudson,” she commented, smoothing down his tie. He smiled down at her.

“Tan Tan,” Charlotte squealed. The little girl was reaching out to the Latina. Santana opened her arms to allow Charlotte to transfer adults. It made Finn really happy to see his daughter getting along with his kinda girlfriend.

“Take a pic of us,” she said. Finn nodded and took the picture, immediately sending the picture to himself. “Beautiful.”

“Alright, Mom and Burt will be coming in a minute,” Finn said. They boys went around and stood behind their seats, waiting for the happy couple.

They DJ began to plan a new song and got on the microphone. “It’s my great pleasure to announce Burt and Carol Hummel!” They came through the same entrance as the boys. Burt ditched his tux jacket and put on a flannel, and Carol ditched her heels for some comfortable sandals. Carol actually had a shirt of Burt’s drapped around her shoulders. Everyone in the hall clapped and cheered for the Newlyweds. They danced their way over to the sweet hearts table.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Everyone enjoyed the buffet of food before the entertainment began. They actually got a DJ to play music, but they also hired Mr. Schue to sing songs throughout the evening. Carol and Burt kicked off the dancing by doing a sort of rumba to the song ‘Sway.’

Kurt and Finn sang a duet to honor their parents. Puck and Lauren entertained Charlotte while Santana and Dave had a dance together. Santana and Mercedes go up and sang ‘Dancing Queen’ (one of Carol’s guilty pleasure songs).

“Mrs. Lopez, may I have this dance?” Finn asked politely. While she was impressed with his manners, she still wasn’t happy that he was dating her daughter.

“You may,” she replied. They walked right out to the dance floor and picked up the slow yet upbeat rhythm of the Abba song.

“Are you enjoying yourself?” Finn asked.

“This wedding in beautiful,” she replied. “Who did they use as a wedding planner?”

“My brother did most of it, and Mom helped,” Finn replied. “Even Santana had her input. The stage decoration was all her and she did the table cards. She has the best handwriting.”

“Really?” the Lopez matriarch said. “I’m surprised she would even get involved.”

“Me too,” Finn chuckled. “But she is a constant surprise.”

“That she is,” she agreed, then began to look around. “Where is your daughter?”

“Kurt and Dave have her,” Finn replied. “Mercedes and Kurt are her godparents, so they always want to steal her away.”

“Quite a support system,” she said, mildly impressed. “You have a job? Santana might have mentioned.”

“I work as a janitor as the church we had the ceremony at in exchange for child care,” Finn began. “But I work as a mechanic at Burt’s garage.”

“And you still go to school full time?”

“Yes Ma’am,” he nodded.

“Quite impressive,” she said. They remained quiet for the remainder of the song. He walked her back to her table.

“Thanks for the dance ma’am.” He left her to think about whatever was going through her head. He met Santana as she walked off the stage and gave her a kiss “You sounded wonderful.”

“Thank you,” she smiled up at him. “Did I see you dancing with my mom?”

“Yeah, I figured I should at least once,” Finn shrugged. “She still isn’t too fond of me.”

“She doesn’t know you,” Santana said hotly.

“Well, I can see why she wouldn’t want me dating you,” Finn reasoned. “I have a kid in high school. It’s quite scandalous.”

“But I don’t care about all that. Neither should they.”

“Let’s just forget about that tonight,” he said. “I wanna dance with you next.”

“As it so happens, my dance card is open.”

Finn never had a better time. He dance with Kurt, Santana, and even Dave. No one seemed to care when two men were dancing, as it should be. Charlotte had fallen asleep in her seat, so Finn made a bed out of chairs and covered her with his suit jacket.

“Hey Kurt,” Finn asked as they finished cleaning up. “Am I driving you home?”

“No, my boyfriend is,” he replied, blushing slightly as he said ‘boyfriend.’

“He finally asked you?”

“Our last slow song,” Kurt confirmed.

“Good,” Finn said grinning. “Because he asked if it would be okay during my dance with him.”

“He would,” Kurt said.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

**September – Senior Year – Age 18**

Finn couldn’t believe his senior year was here. While he had a full schedule, he had high hopes for this year. He had high hopes for his car this year. No graffiti or damage on day one. He dropped Charlotte off at the church daycare and headed to school. The first stop Finn made after going to his locker was at Ms. Pillsbury’s office. “Hey, Ms. P,” Finn greeted.

“Good morning!” she greeted enthusiastically. “Happy belated 18th birthday!”

“Thanks,” Finn’s cheeks tinted pink.

“Was Charlotte happy to go back to the day care?”

“Yeah,” he replied. “She’s pretty easy to get there.”

“Are you still working for them?”

“I’m just going to pay their small fee,” Finn said. “I’m going to be at the garage Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.”

“I’m sure that will make things a bit easier on you,” she agreed. “You’ll be able to save more money and see Charlotte more.”

“Yeah, and I have quite a schedule this year, so I’m able to go to the church and do my homework before I take her home.”

“What’s your classes look like?”

“AP calculus, AP English, gym/health, AP Spanish, AP biology, AP chemistry, AP World History 2, and Glee.”

“Are you sure you are going to be able to handle all that?” Ms. Pillsbury asked cautiously.

“I’m determined to get through it, and my friends have already offered to help me,” Finn said. “And I know that it will help me when it comes to college.”

“That’s true,” she agreed. “We’ll have to start thinking about that soon.”

“Yeah, I’m scheduled to take the SAT’s at the end of this month. I guess I’ll start applying on October.”

“Have you thought of any schools?”

“Well, OSU is close, so that wouldn’t be too bad.”

“Good, I’ll look into local colleges for you.”

“Thanks Ms. P,” Finn said gratefully. “I’m gonna head to my class, but I’ll stop by on Friday to check in.”

“Enjoy your last first day!” she said as he left her office.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

All of Finn’s classes went rather well. They all got their syllabus and a small homework assignment for each. Some were easy enough that he could get them done at lunch time. Finn was very excited to go to Glee. It was his release, singing. They got to sing ‘hello’ songs. So when it was Finn’s turn he chose a song by the Doors. Unbeknownst to him, Carol brought Charlotte in to listen to her Daddy sing.

“Dada!” Charlotte squealed as he finished his song.

“Hey baby!” he said smiling. “Did Nana bring you to hear Daddy sing?”

“Ya!” she said, clapping her hands. Finn relieved his mom of his daughter.

“And Nana wanted to hear too,” Carol said. “Mr. Schuester, do you mind the interruption?”

“Never,” he smiled. “Feel free to grab a seat. Santana you’re up.”

“Hey sweetie!” she greeted as she reached Finn.

“Tan Tan!” Charlotte squealed. Santana scooped her out of her fathers’ arms. “You gonna sing with me?” She started singing ‘Say a Little Pray for Me’.

During the song with Santana dancing around with Charlotte, Quinn walked by the glee room. Her eyes nearly fell out of her head.

“Get the hell away from my baby!” Quinn screamed as she burst into the choir room. Charlotte was scared of this new person who was yelling at her Tan Tan, so she started to cry.

“I’ll take her to Schue’s office to calm her down,” Santana offered, already bouncing Charlotte on her hip to try to sooth her.

“Thanks,” Finn said, he gave Santana a kiss in passing. “Quinn, what are you doing here?”

“That whore is holding my baby!”

“First, Santana is not a whore,” Finn said calmly. “And second, you signed your parental rights away. She isn’t really yours anymore.”

“She is my child! And since you’ve taken up with that whore, I’m not sure you are able to take care of her anymore.”

“You don’t have any legal rights,” Finn reminded her.

“Ahh!” Quinn screamed. She tried to get into Mr. Schue’s office to get Charlotte but Puck intercepted her before she could cause any further damage to Charlotte’s poor psyche. “Let me go Puck!”

“No, because you’re acting like a crazy bitch,” Puck said simply.

“She has my baby!”

“Char is a year and a half old,” Puck said. “Where the fuck have you been?” This simple, yet crucial statement calmed Quinn instantly. Once she stopped struggling, Puck eased his grip and she turned to run out of the room.

“Thanks Puck,” Finn sighed.

“No one upsets Charlotte,” Puck said in response. Finn nodded in agreement. He went into the office.

“You two okay?” Finn asked. Charlotte was still whimpering but was no longer screaming.

“Better,” Santana replied. “Thanks for defending me.”

“She has no right to call you a whore,” he said lowly. “She’s gone, so you two can come out.” Once they left the room, Finn turned to his mom and addressed what was still on his mind. “I need to call Wende, this is just the start.”

“I wish it wouldn’t come to this,” Carol sighed. “Call and we can go up right now.”

“Can I go?” Santana asked. “I can help keep Charlotte occupied.”

“You sure you wanna come?” Finn asked. “I don’t want to get you all mixed up in this.”

“I’m already in this,” Santana said, her words holding multiple meanings. Finn nodded.

“Mr. Schue, can you let Ms. Pillsbury know what’s going on?”

“Sure, Finn.”

“Thanks,” Finn said. He got his phone out and dialed Wende’s cell phone number. “Hi Wende, it’s Finn Hudson… Things could be better… Well, I was wondering if I could stop by today… about a half hour… yeah it involves Char… see you then.”

“Are you going to report Quinn?” Brittany asked.

“I can’t ignore this,” Finn replied.

“Well, I’ll send you the video then,” she said simply.

“You took a video of Quinn?” Finn asked incredulously.

“Well, I took a video when Santana started singing with Charlotte, because it was so cute, but I just kept the video running when Quinn came in,” Brittany explained.

“Britt, that’s awesome,” Finn cried out. He picked her up and swung her around in a hug. “Absolutely send me and Santana the video.”

**0o0o0o0o0o0**

Carol drove and Santana rode shot gun, while Finn sat in the back with Charlotte on the way to Wende’s office. She brought them right back to the familiar office. Charlotte was currently passed out in Santana’s arms as they walked inside. “Finn, nice to see you,” Wende greeted.

“I wish it were under better circumstances,” Finn replied.

“So what happened?”

“Our friend actually took video,” Finn began. “But my mom brought Charlotte to my school so she could hear us all sing in Glee club. Santana, we’ve been dating for several months now, took her and was singing and dancing around with her. The video starts when they start singing, but I can fast forward it.”

“I’ll just watch the video,” Wende said, taking Finn’s phone from him. Her eyes went wide when Quinn burst in the room. “I can see where this is just the start. Who is the gentleman?”

“My best friend, Noah Puckerman.”

“And this was witnessed by your whole glee club?”

“And our teacher, and my mom,” Finn agreed.

“Alright, I’m going to call Sam in here. She was here like an hour ago, so she still might be around looking into a few cases,” Wende explained. She took out her phone and dialed Sam. “Hey Sam... yeah, you still here?... Good, can you stop by my office... yeah, you’re going to be interested in this case... okay bye.”

**0o0o0o0o0o0**

Same came to the office after about 10 minutes and was surprised to see Finn. “Hudson, what’s going on?”

“Baby Momma Drama,” he explained as he shook her hand.

“What kinda drama?” she asked. Finn handed her his phone.

“Sit back and watch,” he said. “She might be trying to get custody.”

Sam watched the video and had a similar reaction as Wende. “There was something off about her when we were signing the papers initially. Now this seems psychotic.”

“You can say that again,” Santana murmured.

“This is the first time she has confronted you?”

“Yeah. I’m still keeping the observation journal about Quinn, almost out of habit. This is going in there as well.”

“Good,” Sam said. “She’s done nothing formally about custody?”

“No, this just happened like an hour ago.”

“When she does, let me know, I’ll take the case,” Sam said definitely. “I wrote up the custody documents. There is no way she can fight it, especially being as unstable as she is.”

“Thanks,” Finn said gratefully.


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

**October – Age 18 – Senior Year**

The trial date was here. Quinn had hired a lawyer and had been gathering ‘evidence’ against Finn. She had character witnesses as a sob story. Finn tuned out most of what she said.

Mrs. Eldridge from church came to testify on his behalf, so did Shannon Beiste and Sue Sylvester. Wende Hench also gave up her time to let the court know what had been going on since his first visit.

“Finn Hudson, please take your seat for your testimony,” the judge said. He stood and walked up to the witness box. “Please state your full name for the record.”

“Finnegan Christopher Hudson.”

“Would you please tell the court why you should remain the child’s guardian.”

“Charlotte,” Finn said.

“What was that?”

“My daughter’s name is Charlotte Amelia Hudson. She was born on March 15th, 2015 at 6:37 pm. She was 7 pounds 8 ounces, 20 inches long. That is the child in question. I know all of this because I’ve been there since she was born. I have loved her ever since Quinn told me about her. I was so excited and terrified but I knew I needed to step up and be what Charlotte needed me to be. Quinn told me she wanted to give up the baby and I nearly lost it. I wrote everything down that happened in the journal in front of you, the good and bad. I tried to be as objective as possible, but after a while it was just getting ridiculous. I got my grades up, met with Children’s services, and got a job. I started going back to church and they have a child care program that I use. I stepped up, because I loved Charlotte before I even know if she was a girl or a boy.

“I tried to support Quinn the best I could. I used the job to help pay for doctors’ bills, and new maternity clothes. But all that did was get me verbally torn apart. Nothing I could do was good enough. She kept telling me that this was all my fault. It takes two people to make a baby, and I certainly didn’t force her. Her rants at me would typically end in violence.”

“Objection. Speculation. Witness has no proof,” Quinn’s lawyer piped up.

“We have substantiated proof of those claims,” Sam stood up and announced. “Sound bites and photos of said assaults, along with witnesses.”

“Overruled! Continue Mr. Hudson,” the judge ruled.

“Thanks, um. I went to DYFS to see what I needed to do in order to keep Charlotte. Eventually I had to contract the services of Ms. Samantha Carter, Esquire because I needed to have my custody legally sound. I have been there for her since her first moments in this world. Her first smile was a thing of wonder. I was there when she was crying through her first tooth. I haven’t heard word one from Quinn since she left the hospital, after signing over full custody of Charlotte, forfeiting all her parental rights.

“I believe that it would be in the best interest of Charlotte for her to stay with me. I have loved her from the beginning, not because all of a sudden it could boost me into popularity.”

“Thank you Mr. Hudson,” the judge said. “You may return to your seat. I will adjourn for the afternoon. We will meet again for the final decision 10 am tomorrow morning.” The gavel sounded.

“That was good, very passionate,” Sam said. “I have high hopes. We still have our closing statements and then the judge will make the ruling.”

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Finn got home with Carol, Burt, and Charlotte and was met with a homemade dinner. Kurt, Dave, and Santana had made spaghetti and meatballs for the returning family. “What’s going on?” Finn asked.

“It’s been a long crazy day, we imagine,” Dave said “We figured that dinner was the least we could do.”

“Thank you guys,” Carol said, holding back tears. She gave hugs and kisses to the three teens. “Are you two going to stay here tonight?”

“If it’s alright with you Mrs. H,” Santana replied.

“It’s no problem,” Carol said. “I’ll get the couch and chair all ready for you guys.”

“I’ll do it,” Dave offered. He did stay here quite often, spending time with both Finn and Kurt.

“Alright.”

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

The next morning came too soon and not soon enough. Finn was nervous and optimistic. With some cajoling, Carol called all four teens out of school and they schlepped down to the court house. Finn drove with Charlotte and Santana, while the boys went with Carol and Burt. Finn sat up at the table with Sam and Wende, but the rest of their horde had to sit in the gallery. Charlotte with happy to sit there with Santana and Kurt and Dave and her bag of toys.

Quinn’s lawyer was first to give his closing statements. It sounded way too rehearsed and so fake; Finn was sure he had seen the judge roll her eyes. When Sam got up to say their final piece, everyone in the audience sat up that much straighter.

“Finn Hudson is a dedicated father. He worked extremely hard to provide for Charlotte and they have a very close bond. To give custody away would certainly be a detriment to both parties. Finn and Charlotte have a tremendous support system. You can tell, from yesterday’s testimony that Finn does everything in his child’s best interest. He has steady employment, goes to church, has child care, and goes to high school full time. It is our plea to keep sole custody with Charlotte’s father, Finn Hudson.”

“Now that I’ve heard both final statements from each party, I will make my ruling,” the judge began. “I’ll be candid here. I don’t think this whole dog and pony show was necessary. Quinn Fabray, just because you see your daughter doing well and Mr. Hudson moving on doesn’t give you the right to go ‘woe is me, he took my baby’ You signed the papers that Ms. Carter expertly drew up and explained to you. You knew from very early on that you didn’t want this child. Mr. Hudson does. He took responsibility and is raising her quite well from what I can see. I am continuing to allow him to have full custody of Charlotte Amelia. I am also recommending that you seek counseling. Court is adjourned.”

There was a raucous amount of cheering from the ‘spectators’. Finn leapt the barrier between the two groups and scooped Charlotte up in his arms, kissing her cheek. She was screaming “Daddy!”

“We won!” he cheered, squeezing her tight. Santana was on her feet and hugging them both fiercely. Sam and Wende made their way around the gate and back to the crowd.

“Congratulations Finn!” Sam said, a big smile on her face.

“Thank you so much!” Finn replied gratefully. “I couldn’t have done any of this if it weren’t for you two.”

“You put in the work, we just did the paperwork,” Wende said.

“We are going to the diner across the street to celebrate,” Carol said. “Do you want to come with us?”

The two women conversed with each other briefly before replying in unison. “We’d love to.”

The group was walking out, pretty much all coupled up, so Finn pulled Santana toward the back of the group. “Hey, I don’t think I ever said thanks for sticking by me during all this.”

“Why wouldn’t I?” she asked. “I honestly couldn’t imagine not being here.”

“This is why you’re the best,” he admitted. “So I’ve got a question for you.”

“Yeah?” she questioned, grabbing his hand as they walked.

“Would you be my girlfriend?”

“I kinda thought I was?” she replied, slightly confused.

“Well, I wanted to ask you, officially.”

“Ahh, well, my official answer is yes,” she replied. He stopped them and leaned into kiss her.

“Daddy! Tan Tan!” Charlotte squealed from her perch on Finn’s hip.

“That’s right Tan Tan is officially Daddy’s girlfriend,” Finn explained to Charlotte who proceeded to clap and blow raspberries. Finn felt on top of the world now.


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

**November – Age 18 – Senior Year**

**College Visits**

“Hey Ms. P,” Finn greeted as he walked into her office.

“Hey Finn, right on time,” she replied. She got out her ‘Finn Hudson’ notebook and dated their session. “Did you get a chance to thin about your ‘homework’?”

“Yeah, and I came up with an answer,” he said proudly. “Social work.”

“Really?”

“Well, I’ve been thinking about where I would be without you and Wende, and I want to be that person for other people.”

“That’s very commendable,” Emma replied. “Well then. Let’s have a look at a few choice schools in Ohio that have that program you want.” She began pulling out numerous pamphlets from a very neatly organized filing cabinet. “I have gotten all the pamphlets from the colleges ready for you, but I would like for you to look through them and maybe next week we can narrow some down for next week?” Finn felt slightly overwhelmed but he was able to skim through the list and able to rule out the community colleges. He handed them directly back to the ginger haired counselor.

“I’ll look through these then,” Finn said. “Thanks for getting these for me.”

“No problem,” she replied. “If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail or stop in.”

“I will,” he said. Finn took his time going back to lunch with the pamphlets and took his place beside Santana. “I got the pamphlets from Ms. P.”

“Cool, maybe we can look over them this weekend,” Santana suggested. “I’m not sure that I want to leave Ohio either.”

“I thought you might want to go to New York like Kurt and Rachel,” Finn said.

“Well, I’m definitely a NYC visitor, but I’m not certain I would want to live there,” she admitted. “I’m a hometown kid, deep down.”

“I don’t think I would have guessed that for you this time last year.”

“I’d like to think that I have grown up over the past year,” she teased.

“I think we both have,” Finn agreed. “I’ll definitely be looking over these this weekend, maybe after Church Sunday, since Mercedes will be over, and she has already decided that she wants to go to UCLA.”

“She is crazy,” Santana giggled. “Too much sunshine has bleached those LA people’s brains out.”

“Well, she will certainly have plenty stories for us,” Finn replied.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Sunday rolled around and Mercedes happily agreed to take Charlotte to the park for a few hours while Finn and Santana got the information about their potential colleges. There were pamphlets for Ohio State University, University of Cincinnati, Kent State, Bowling Green State University, University of Akron, Miami University of Ohio, Case Westerns Reserve, Ohio University, Wright State University, University of Toledo, Cleveland State University, Xavier University, Youngstown State University, University of Dayton, Oberlin College, Baldwin Wallace University, Kenyon College, University of Mount Union, University of Findlay, Dennison University, Ashland University, John Carroll University, Ohio Northwestern University, Cincinnati State Tech, Capital University, Ohio Weslyan University, Walsh University, Wittenberg University, Adaville University, University of Northwestern Ohio, Franklin University, Muskingum University, Central State University, Clark State, Malone University, and James A Rhoads State.

“This is a huge pile,” Santana commented.

“Well, I took out the Spanish universities and the community colleges,” Finn said, his eyes getting larger as the pile was spread out across the table.

“I know that I want to do nursing programs,” Santana said. “Most schools offer a nursing program.”

“I’m going for social work,” Finn said. “So let’s sift through and see which ones have a nursing program that also have a social work program.”

“Good idea,” Santana said. She began to take her ‘half’ of the pamphlets and began leafing through them. Some of them were discarded because their lack of programs, but not many. Finn did the same with his half.

“Now we should do them by location?” Finn questioned.

“I certainly wouldn’t want to take Charlotte too far from her first home,” Santana agreed.

“This is why I love you,” Finn said. “You are thinking about Charlotte as much as I do.”

“Well, I love you, and I don’t just get into relationships with guys easily, especially ones with kids... so I’m I this, and I think going to the same college will not only help up accomplish our career goals, but I think it will help us grow, and it will be a better way to raise Charlotte.” Finn let her finish her thought before he attacked her mouth. She was surprised at first by the kiss, but let him take the reins on this one. Carol came out of the kitchen to bring them a snack of grapes, cheese, and crackers.

“That doesn’t look like college hunting,” she teased gently as she set the plate down. The teens broke apart and grinned up at her sheepishly.

“We are, we already narrowed down our choices some,” Finn reasoned. They went back to it, continuing to narrow down their list of suspects. It took quite a while, but they managed to narrow down their choices to four: University of Akron, Bowling Green State University, Kent State University and Ohio State University.

“I think this is a good list for Ms. P,” Santana said as they were all done.

“Yeah, and I think this is a totally doable visitation list as well.”

“Yeah, totally,” she agreed.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

“Hey Finn, Santana,” Emma greeted. She wasn’t really surprised that Finn would bring Santana to this meeting. “Did you narrow the school choices down?”

“Yeah, got four of them,” Finn replied. Santana fished out the pamphlets out of her book bag. Emma took the pamphlets and gave the couple a smile.

“These are good schools. You planning on doing a visit before applying?”

“Yeah,” Finn said. “We are going to take two weekends and visit all four, one on each day.”

“That sounds reasonable,” Emma praised. “I hope that you take notes and bring them back and I can help you get them narrowed down if you’d like. But I would hope that you can finish the applications by the middle of December.”

“I think we can get that done,” Santana said.

“I will keep looking into different scholarships as well, for the both of you,” Emma also offered. “Feel free to look for some on your own, but I will be trying to find ones that particularly pertain to your specific situations.”

“Thanks,” Santana said gratefully. “I know that my parents make a lot of money, but I don’t want to have to rely on them solely to take care of my tuition. I already found one at the hospital Dad works at, and I’ve already applied for it.”

“I’m glad you’re taking the initiative Santana,” Emma commended. “I’ve noticed that you two seem to be planning on going to the same college.”

“Santana had a good point,” Finn said. “We did talk about this over the weekend. It will help us grow as a couple, help accomplish our goals, and will give Charlotte more stability.”

“Very mature of you,” Emma replied. “I want you to know, that if there are any issue that arise, I will always be just a phone call or e-mail away. I know that there are counseling services at all of these colleges, but if the sense of familiarity will help, I will gladly be here. You two are a shining example of what many older couples strive to be.”

There were two blushing teens sitting in her office, clearly embarrassed over the high praise.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

It took an extra hour a night to get the applications finished, the colleges having been visited, and the essays that needed to be filled out for the applications as well as the scholarships. Santana was over most nights, as was Dave, so they could do their homework together and get their applications out. It was a nice little family unit they had there. There was all the love and support that you could ever ask for.


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

**December – Age 18 – Senior Year**

**Christmas Party**

It was Charlotte’s second Christmas, at 21 months. It was definitely much more fun with her being more aware. She even ‘helped’ Carol make Christmas cookies this year. Finn and Kurt hosted the glee club and their families for a Christmas party once again.

“Did you invite Rachel this year?” Kurt asked from the kitchen. He was finishing the seasoning for the meatballs and red sauce.

“I couldn’t not invite her,” Finn sighed. Charlotte was currently wrapped around his leg, and he would lift her up and around the kitchen as she sat on his foot. “She decided that she wanted to be Jewish this year, so no Christmas.”

“That makes things a whole lot better,” Kurt said. “Now she won’t push up on you.”

“Yeah, Santana might actually kick her butt this time,” he agreed. Kurt was impressed. Charlotte wasn’t around, but everyone in her life had seemed to curb their proclivity for profane language, even Puck. They learned to modify all their swear words.

“Oh yeah, although the musical smack down was pretty epic,” Kurt replied.

“I could tell her I wasn’t interested until the cows came home, but when Santana does, it finally sinks in.”

“When Santana does what now?” the subject in question appeared at the front door, holding a few grocery bags.

“Musical smack down on Rachel,” Finn explained.

“Ah, good times,” she sighed, savoring the memory. “So no Hobbit this year?”

“Rachel decided that she was only Jewish this year,” Finn replied.

“Good,” Santana said. “Let me drop these in the kitchen and I’ll get to work decorating the downstairs.”

“I’ll start down there too,” Finn said. He learned down to pluck Charlotte off his leg and up over his shoulders. She let out a peel of giggles. “Come on, let’s go play in Uncle Kurt’s room.”

“Unka Urt!” Charlotte screamed. She giggled some more as they traipsed down the stairs. Finn tossed his daughter playfully on Kurt’s bed. “Gain Daddy!”

“Alright, one more time,” Finn agreed. He picked her up and tossed her a bit further up the bed. She cheered again. Santana came skipping down the stairs, continued across the room, and jumped onto the bed next to Charlotte. The toddler just about lost it. She was deep belly laughing.

“You are too cute for words, little mija,” Santana giggled. Finn smiled as his two girls got along so well. He then proceeded to set up the table in the corner for a drinks buffet and a smaller card table next to it for snacks. The adults tended to stay upstairs, and the teens downstairs, so they didn’t have to worry about having a whole lot of food down here. They could always sneak up stairs and get some of the real food first.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

It was another few hours before people really started showing up. Puck wheeled Artie downstairs with Mike. Together they said hey to the adults as they disappeared behind the basement door. Kurt already had a low volume playlist going, a mix of their favorite songs and Christmas music.

“Hey Finn,” Burt got the young man’s attention. Finn was greeting his friends as they came in and Kurt was in charge downstairs. “Leave Charlotte up here. You just enjoy being with your friends tonight.”

“I can’t make you guys take her,” Finn tried to protest, but he was cut off.

“Did you notice that I offered?” Burt teased. “And you had better enjoy it while you can. You’ll be leaving for college at the end of summer and we won’t be around to help you.”

“It’s no big deal to have her downstairs,” Finn tried again.

“But you’re gonna go socialize and be with your girlfriend like a normal 18 year old. Go!”

“Alright,” Finn conceded, a small smile on his face. Burt put a reassuring hand on Finn’s shoulder and went off to chase the toddler around.

Finn went downstairs to hang out with his friends, when Kurt came over to him and asked “Where’s Char?”

“Burt insisted on having her,” Finn explained. Kurt smiled.

“Well, now you can kiss your girlfriend under some mistletoe without a jealous glare from your almost two year old.”

“I guess I can,” Finn sighed. He grabbed Santana’s hand and drug her to the drinks table, where some mistletoe was conveniently hung nearby. “Mistletoe!”

Santana giggled as Finn leaned down and laid one hell of a kiss on her. There were cheers and wolf whistles heard from the rest of their friends. Between the cheering and the kiss, Santana pulled away blushing. “Wow!”

“Yeah,” Finn agreed. “I can relax and have a good night with you. Char is in good hands.”

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

This Christmas party was rocking by the time everyone got there. Finn and Santana were dancing by themselves in the corner, Puck was macking on his woman under the mistletoe, Artie was wheeling his girlfriend around doing wheelies, Tina and Mike were slow dancing as Kurt and Dave sang ‘Baby it’s Cold Outside’, Rory was blushing as Sugar was holding his hand, dragging him over to dance with Mike and Tina, Mercedes and Sam were seated on Kurt’s bed, giggling about the newest young couple, and Matt brought his new girlfriend Ashley, they were seated on the settee at the base of Kurt’s bed.

Ashley Greene sat there and took it all in. She knew that Matt played football and recognized several of the football players. But she also knew that he was in the glee club. Ashley knew of a few people in the glee club but she had never actively hung out with them. They were not the popular kids, but they were. They were the enigma of McKinley. She began to notice a few things. They were pretty much all coupled off, which was pretty neat if you thought about it. There were different types of couples as well. Brittany and Artie were close to normal but Ashley couldn’t really figure out what Brittany saw in someone who couldn’t get up and dance around with her.

“She gets him to have more fun and he can translate most of what she says,” Matt whispered in her ear as he noticed her staring. She looked up at him and smiled.

“How did you know what I was thinking?” she asked.

“I’m the quiet observer,” Matt said. “I can tell you things about these couples that probably no one else could unless they were in them. Artie loves Brittany for her being her, but he certainly doesn’t mind that she is hot as hell. Brittany was the first and only one that sees how much Artie is actually packing, so she doesn’t mind being on top. It also helps her creativity in finding new ways to get down.”

“Wow,” Ashley breathed. “Tell me more.”

“Okay, who about?”

“What about Rory and Sugar?”

“Well those two are just starting out. Rory is from Ireland. He is more gentlemanly than most of the school, so when Sugar just grabs him and kinda takes what she wants, he really doesn’t know what to do with himself. Hopefully after a little while he will loosen up.”

“Okay, Mercedes and Sam,” she asked.

“Well, can you imagine why those two got together? Sam had a serious hard on for her since he moved here but social norms dictated that he date a ‘skinny’ girl. That wasn’t really working for him. He finally got up enough courage to ask her out over the summer and they’ve been inseparable ever since. It’s gonna suck because he is just a junior and she is graduating in June.”

“That’s not happy,” Ashley agreed. “But I’m sure it can work if you make it.”

“Oh absolutely,” Matt agreed as well.

“Okay, Tina and Mike seem fairly normal, and I’m sure I don’t want to know some of those kinky skeletons in their closet,” she said. “But what about Puck and Lauren?”

“He is totally a better person around her,” Matt began. “He was a total d-bag before he started hooking up with her. She turned him down the first time, which really must have shocked him. But he worked his ass off to get her to see him. The end result is what you see. She handles him, and he makes her feel like the girl that she wants to be like. It works for them.”

“Ahh,” she replied. “What about Kurt and Dave?”

“Well, you knew how Dave was an ass for years right? Well he came out of the closet last year or so, and had a serious crush on Kurt. He became friends with Finn when Quinn was being a total bitch. Dave lost a lot of friends when he came out, but he also gained all of us. We don’t really care who you love, as long as you love and treat them right. Dave treats Kurt like gold, and Kurt in return. And this is currently their first real PDA in front of all of the group.”

Dave leaned down and gave Kurt a kiss under the mistletoe, elbowing Puck and Lauren out of the way. You wouldn’t think these two would work, but seeing them like any other couple it did work. Dave might have kissed Kurt gently, but Kurt flipped the table and got up on his toes the last few inches to press a harder kiss to Dave’s lips. This garnered some whistling from their friends. Dave ended up blushing more than Kurt, who just tried to look as demure as possible.

“Wow,” Ashley breathed. “I have to admit, I didn’t really see them together.”

“Opposites attract,” Matt shrugged.

“So that’s what happened with Finn and Santana?”

“No, that was when Rachel kept trying to get with Finn,” Matt replied. “She was his total opposite. Santana is far more like Finn than either one of them seem to want to admit. She may come off like the queen bitch, but she really is a driven woman with family goals in mind. Finn has part of his family and sees that she could have that with someone. It’s possible to be with someone and love them without the drama.”

“You really are the observant one,” she smirked. “And me and you?”

“Well...” Matt trailed off, leaving a lingering kiss on her lips. She never did find out what he thought about them, but he laid some serious lip service on her.


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

**January – Senior Year – Age 18**

**Those Fateful Letters**

Ms. Pillsbury was on her game this year. The Senior class as a whole had all filled out their college applications and submitted them before Christmas. She had been inspired by Finn’s determination. He was raising Charlotte to the best of his abilities – and whenever she visited, she thought the little girl was very well adjusted – and complete school, work, and go to college. It was awe inspiring to watch him grow into this young man. She was also pleasantly surprised to see that the whole class had applied to some school or another – be it tech school, or community college, or a four year college; even a few applied to Ivy League schools. It made her smile at the whole graduating class, especially since no one had dropped out since the beginning of the year. This was quite a resounding success in her book.

Those who had sent out applications early, by the end of Thanksgiving were starting to get their acceptance letters. Kurt got an acceptance letter from NYU already. He was over the moon, especially since Dave had gotten accepted as well. Finn was waiting on pins and needles for any news from the four colleges applied for. In the back of his mind, he had a devilish voice saying that he would never get it; but he was determined to make the most of his life, for Charlotte’s sake.

Friday rolled around and Finn had his routine: school, work until six, pick Charlotte up and head home for some downtime with his gorgeous girl. This particular day ended up slightly different. When Finn brought Charlotte home, there was an air of excitement from Carol as she greeted them at the door. “What’s going on Mom?” Finn asked warily.

“Nothing,” she practically shouted, the nervousness radiating off her in waves.

“Something is definitely up,” Finn argued. “You’re practically bouncing out of your skin.”

“You got a letter today,” Carol admitted.

“A letter?”

“From Bowling Green,” Carol confirmed. “It’s on the kitchen table.” Finn dropped all his bags and rushed – with Charlotte still in his arms – to the kitchen. There sat a large envelope with the university name splashed across the outside. He tore into the envelope and took out the first page of the letter.

‘Dear Mr. Hudson,

Upon review of your application, we would like to offer you our congratualtions on your acceptance to BGSU!’

“You got in?” Carol screamed.

“I got in!” Finn shouted. “Char! Daddy got into college!”

“My baby’s going to college!” Carol cried out, hugging her son and granddaughter.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Within two weeks, Finn had four acceptance letters from the four colleges he had applied for. While he would have to apply for financial aid, he would claim emancipated status and hopefully they would give him a bit more money than they would if he filed that his parents were now married. He had applied for several local scholarships and garnered around $8,000 a year. Then he would see what the schools were going to offer him.

“So am I writing the pro’s and con’s list for each school?” Santana asked, already getting out her binder and a pencil.

“Well, you do have better handwriting than I do,” Finn reasoned sheepishly. She mockingly rolled her eyes at him and got ready for the list.

“Okay, Kent State first.”

“Well, it costs the most, so that’s a con,” Finn replied. “And it’s the furthest away.”

“Daddy,” Charlotte called. She ran over to him and tried to climb into his lap. Finn helped her and began to tickle her

“They have a three year program for a bachelor’s in case management for individuals and families, that’s a pro,” Finn said, pausing to blow a raspberry on his daughters belly.

“Okay, anything else?”

“They really didn’t have family accommodations,” Finn shrugged.

“Alright, how about Akron now,” Santana said, shuffling some papers around.

Okay, they had the cheapest tuition and the housing was relatively cheap too. Not the greatest locations for housing,” Finn listed. “They had two different majors but I wasn’t really all that interested.”

“Okay,” Santana replied, writing down the proper pro’s and cons. “Which one next?”

“OSU,” Finn said, pulling their paperwork closer. “Definitely the highest in price.”

“Yeah, but didn’t they offer you a full tuition scholarship?”

“Partial, they would pay for $7,000 of the whole year’s tuition,” Finn replied, double checking the paperwork. “Their degree programs aren’t all that impressive either.”

“I didn’t like their nursing programs all that much,” Santana commented. “The last two nurses I met at the hospital who went there were awful.”

“I’ll say we’re probably counting that one out,” Finn said definitively.

“And last one is Bowling Green,” Santana said. “Good nursing program.”

“Descent tuition, and multiple campuses. Their major is good.”

“Daddy down!” Charlotte piped up.

“Alright sweetie,” Finn said. She climbed down from his lap and went back to her toy chest. “Okay, let’s finish this and we can get dinner together,” Santana said. “Anything else?”

“Well, I really liked that they are very alternative family friendly.”

“What do you mean?”

“They have small houses for nontraditional families, child care services and all kinds of aid for single parents.”

“Sounds pretty cool,” Santana agreed. She finished writing the list and put all their paperwork into a pile in the middle of the table, away from grabby hands. “I honestly think we made a choice.”

“Yeah, after talking things out it seems like BGSU is where it would be best.”

“With everything they offer, they seem pretty awesome,” Santana replied.

“I don’t want you feeling obligated to go to the same school as me,” Finn said, wrapping his arms around her middle.

“It’s not obligation, the nursing program is pretty good and it would be nice to go to the same college as someone else I know. And I get to see that pretty Chicka all the time.”

“You are amazing,” Finn sighed. He leaned over and kissed her. This particularly engaging activity continued for a short time until Carol came home from work.

“Alright love birds, let’s break it up and get dinner going,” Carol chuckled. It did her heart good to see her son acting like a normal teenager for once.

“Sorry Mrs. H,” Santana said contritely.

“It’s all good,” Carol replied. “I believe the crockpot should be ready, so let’s set the table and eat before this little girl needs to go to bed.” Charlotte had run out when Carol came home and wrapped around her legs.

“I’ll go do that,” Finn said, a smile on his face.


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

**Lonely Hearts Club Band**

**February – Age 18 – Senior Year**

Kurt had come up with this idea, that since he was finally happy this Valentine’s Day, he would share it with the world. He had contacted Breadstix and offered for the Glee club to perform love songs for patrons and asked for a meal discount in return. They did the Glee club one better. The whole club got free food while they performed from 6 to 10 pm. Kurt shared the news with everyone in school and they were pumped to jump on board. There would be a mix of single, couples there. Carol and Burt also came early with Charlotte and offered to watch her for the rest of the night.

“Hey, I know I’m not really taking you out for Valentine’s Day,” Finn began as she got in his car. He was picking her up to go to the restaurant. “But I hope that this makes up for it.”

He held out a long flat box, beautifully wrapped – probably by Carol – and offered it to Santana. Her jaw dropped as she accepted the present. Very carefully she tore the paper off the box. Santana cautiously opened the lid and revealed a piece of paper. “What’s this?”

“Charlotte wanted to make you a present,” Finn informed her. She opened the piece of folded paper and saw what Charlotte had drawn. It was a picture that Finn had conveniently labeled. One big scribble tower was ‘Tana’ and the small squiggle tower was Char.

“Oh how cute, I love it!” she said. “She is too cute.”

“She’ll be there with Mom and Burt, so you can see her,” Finn said. She carefully folded the picture back up and looked down at the new necklace that lay in the box. It was a silver chain with a key shaped charm. It really sparked with the crystal flecks embedded in it, and the key was a mix of silver and gold.

“Aye dios mio,” she breathed in awe. “This is gorgeous.”

“Just like you,” Finn replied. “Would you like to put it on?”

“Absolutely,” she said. Together they got the necklace out of its bonds and hooked around her neck. “You have really good taste.”

“Well, I may have had help from Kurt,” Finn replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Well, I’ll have to thank him as well,” she teased. Santana leaned over to the drivers’ seat and laid quite a kiss on Finn. Finn wrapped his hands around the back of her neck to deepen the kiss. “Mmm.”

“Yeah,” Finn agreed. He couldn’t believe that he was Santana’s boyfriend. Here he was, a senior in high school, with an almost two year old daughter, and he was dating easily one of the hottest girls in the school. “Um, we should get going.”

“Oh yeah, I wouldn’t want Kurt mad at me,” she agreed. Finn cleared his throat and tried to clear his mind before putting his SUV in drive.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Breadstix was hopping when they arrived. There was a small section set aside for the glee club, a few tables put together so they could all chat while they weren’t singing. Kurt and Dave were already seated, and they were sitting with Puck and Lauren. Matt was sitting with Mike and Tina, Brittany and Artie. They were still waiting for Mercedes and Sam, but Rachel was already up on the ‘stage’ singing a slow love ballad. “That lipstick really is your color bro,” Puck commented as they sat at the table.

“What?” Finn asked.

“You two were totally macking in the car,” he pointed out. Finn had light smears of red lipstick. Santana had the good grace to blush slightly before wetting her napkin and wipe it off his face.

“Thanks,” Finn murmured. Kurt walked up to the microphone after Rachel finished her song to a smattering of applause.

“Hello everyone!” he began. “Breadstix has been gracious enough to host us here for your Valentine’s Day entertainment. We are the local Glee club from William McKinnley High School. We hope you enjoy, and we will be taking requests...”


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26**

**March – Age 18**

**Charlotte’s Second Birthday**

Finn was practically buzzing. His baby was turning two years old. She was already growing like a weed. If the old wives tales were true, then she would keep growing until she hit six foot tall. As she was now getting old enough to understand what was going on. Finn had invited some people from school, some other kids and their parents from the church daycare. He truly felt like a parent now.

He got Kurt, Carol, and Santana to make food. He and Dave set up the new swing set he bought her out in the back yard. They had surprised Charlotte when she got up from her morning nap. She tried it out immediately. Of course Finn had gotten tons of pictures. The party was animal themed. Charlotte had a shirt with a giraffe on it and giraffe print leggings. Since she was so tall, it was fitting that her favorite animal was the tallest one in the world. Santana got into the spirit of things as well but wearing a black shirt with zebra striped leggings. Finn just wore jeans but wore a shirt with a lion on it at the request of his daughter. “You is tough as a wion Daddy,” she explained.

Kids starting showing up around noon. The kids had animal shirts on. Even some of Finn’s friends had dressed the part. Dave wore black jeans and a shirt with a gorilla on it. Puck wore a tiger shirt. Brittany was dressed as a unicorn, all white and glitter.

Everything turned out well. They had the play set out back, and a small toy play area in the living room. There were decoration all around and themed food. Lion King shaped mac’n’cheese, hot weiner dogs on a bun, and zebra oreo cake. The other parents commented on how cute things turned out. Santana was proud at how all this turned out. She could feel the pride radiating off Finn. He worked so far to give his daughter a party she deserved.

They played a few games and had cake. Charlotte had so much fun opening her presents. But after they had cake and did presents, the kids were shuffled outside to play in the back yard, which thankfully was fenced in. The parents were milling around chatting casually with each other, agreeing that for Finn being as young as he was, he did a pretty good job with the two year old party.

He wasn’t going to be one of these parents who had crazy outlandish parties that cost a fortune – one of which he didn’t have – and wanted to make do with awesome things at home. Santana had showed him pinterest, and that was quite a mistake. Finn’s head was quite filled with all the great ideas that this platform had to offer. There were times that Santana had to hide his phone to stop him from going overboard. So there was the themed food that he found, got a jungle themed cake for her, since his icing skills weren’t up to snuff. He did some simple decorations for the living room where there would be people hanging out. Overall, Santana thought he knocked this party out of the park.


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27**

**April – Age 18**

**Just One Year Ago?**

“How did you swing taking me out on a Friday night?” Santana asked. They were walking toward a relatively upscale restaurant a few towns over. The anonymity was nice, no one would remember that he was the teenager with a baby.

“I actually agreed to cover for Kurt next weekend,” Finn replied. “Dave’s parents are going away for the weekend, and Kurt is going to ‘keep Dave company’.”

“I’m sure that’s what he’ll be doing,” Santana said drolly. It got her thinking about going down that road with Finn. They couldn’t really do much since Charlotte was always around. While she did use to have quite a promiscuous reputation, that didn’t have any draw on her anymore. She was actually happy with her current relationship with Finn. “I’m certainly glad you’re a good brother then.”

“I’m glad he loves Charlotte,” Finn wrapped an arm around Santana’s shoulders as they approached the restaurant. They were greeted by the maitre’de. “Reservation for two. Under Hudson.”

“Come this way.” They were ushered into the restaurant and lead over to a two person table. Once they were seated and their drink orders taken, Santana asked a question that had been on her mind.

“So, I’m not complaining about you taking me out, but why?”

“Well, it’s an anniversary of sorts,” Finn began. “I took you on the date at the lake a year ago.”

“Has it really been a year?” she marveled at the fact.

“It really has,” Finn replied. “Quite a year for sure.”

“You aren’t kidding,” she agreed. They had been through quite a bit. She thought back to the beginning of the school year, and the two month court situation. She felts closer to Finn because of everything that had transpired during the trial, got a real taste of what Finn had to go through while Quinn was pregnant. He trusted her to bring her in on his life.

Santana and Finn had a great date. They talked about more of their interests, ones that didn’t involve Charlotte. Santana admitted she wanted to be a surgical nurse because she enjoyed the pressure of a high octane environment of the OR. She didn’t think she would be able to go through medical school, so nursing was the next best thing. Finn had his eyes opened to the inner workings of the social work circles in Ohio State. He saw how things worked and how the system was flawed. He was desperate to give back and help the system that gave him so much. They really felt like they got to know each other better of dinner that night.

After their meal, they didn’t feel like going home just yet. Kurt had agreed to put Charlotte to bed so he didn’t have to go home right away. Finn suggested they go back to the lake that started it all and go for a walk. They took a stroll around the lake, holding hands, fingers interlaced. They could just be a normal couple. They ended up talking about parents. She was happy that Carol and Burt accepted her as Finn’s girlfriend. At the same time, Santana was disappointed in her parents. They weren’t outwardly against her relationship, but they did nothing to support their daughter or speak positively about Finn. Finn tried really hard to get them to accept them but they just wouldn’t budge. They didn’t think Santana should be dating someone with a child.

“You really should stop being so nice to them,” Santana told Finn, regarding her parents. “They don’t deserve it.”

“Call me an optimist,” Finn chuckled. “One day I’m determined to make them like me.”

They made their way one more time around the lake before they realized it was nearing midnight. Finn suggested they head back to his house. It was at the house that Finn silently offered his hand to Santana. She took it almost immediately. They tip toed their way upstairs to his room, stopping briefly to check on Charlotte; she was fast asleep. They both sat on the end of the bed, not sure where to really begin. Santana broke the ice by leaning over to kiss him.

Feeling a surge of confidence, Finn pulled Santana on top of him, straddling his legs on the end of the bed. They fell into a familiar pattern of making out. They usually found a good time to make out away from prying eyes. Once the end of the bed became uncomfortable, Finn picked her up and moved up so they could potentially get under the covers. The slow removal of their clothes would be a new first among many for the couple tonight.

Once they removed their fancy clothes and got under the covers, they knew things would change now. Santana had been on birth control for a few years now and Finn was overly cautious, but without too much embarrassment, they had sex. Finn finally had a ‘normal’ relationship – based on mutual feelings and respect, not a socially dictated hierarchy. Santana finally felt like a person – treated like a lady and not like a whore.

Their activities tired them out so they curled up and fell asleep. Santana had had the foresight to have them at least put their underwear back on. That would make things better when their unexpected visitor came in.

Charlotte took it upon herself to climb out of her crib and wander into her Daddy’s room. She hauled herself up and over the covers. Charlotte snuggled into Finn’s left side and Santana was on Finn’s right. Santana startled awake when Charlotte put her hand on Finn’s stomach.

“Finn,” she hissed. Finn turned his head and looked at his girlfriend.

“Hmm?”

“We have a little visitor,” she whispered. Finn looked confused for a second, and then realized he had weight on both sides of his body. He turned his head and saw his daughter looking at him with sleepy eyes.

“What are you doing up sweetie?”

“Sleepy Daddy,” Charlotte murmured.

“Go ahead, go to sleep baby,” Finn whispered before turning back to Santana, who looked a bit worried. “Let’s not make it a big deal, talk about it tomorrow.”

“Alright,” Santana said warily. She didn’t want to ruin the good thing she had with Charlotte, so she snuggled back to Finn and drifted back to sleep.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Finn woke up to find no girls in his bed. The clock read 9:00 AM. With a flourish, he bound out of bed, put on some sweats and t-shirt before going down to find his daughter. Kurt, Carol, Burt, Dave, Santana, and Charlotte were already enjoying breakfast when Finn came in.

“Good morning sweetheart,” Carol greeted. “You really must have stayed out late. You never sleep past six anymore.”

“Yeah, we got in late,” Finn agreed.

“Then we stayed up talking more,” Santana chimed in. “I was too tired to drive home so we got Kurt to let me sleep on his couch.”

“And clothe you,” Kurt teased. Santana was indeed wearing a rare pair of fitted sweat pants and an off the shoulder t-shirt Kurt wore to do his moisturizing routine.

“Well, it wasn’t like she was going to fit in my clothes,” Finn quipped. Kurt must know what happened. Kurt gave him a wink and went to go get a breakfast plate for him.

“Notice my surprise when I try to surprise my boyfriend this morning and there’s a girl in his room,” Dave teased.

“You kids are too funny,” Burt chuckled. “I’m off to work on some paperwork. You’re on 12-8 right?”

“Yup, I’ll be there,” Finn agreed. “Thanks for last night off.”

“No problem kid. You ask for like one day in 6 months,” Burt joked. He got up and kissed Carol goodbye. Then Charlotte got a kiss. Then he leaned down and kissed Santana’s cheek. “Didn’t want you to feel left out.”

Everyone giggled; Santana even blushed. With Burt gone, Carol cleaned away some dishes and went up to shower for the day. “Okay, cutest picture ever,” Kurt commented. He showed Finn a picture on his phone of Finn and his girls curled up. “I went to check on Charlotte because I knew you two were out late, and I found her crib empty.”

“Yeah, she must have gotten out and climbed in bed with us,” Finn said. “I might need to get her a real bed soon.”

“I’ll say,” Santana muttered.

“Which begs the question, how did you end up with two girls in your bed?” Dave asked.

“We told the truth, just fibbed about where I slept,” Santana replied. Kurt rolled his eyes.

“Well, deal still stands for next weekend,” Kurt reminded him. “I won’t show this to anyone.”

“Why don’t you delete it?”

“Because it really is a cute picture,” Kurt argued.

“Fine, but you don’t get to use it as blackmail,” Finn agreed.


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28**

**May – Age 18**

**College Arrangements**

Finn Hudson’s high school life was coming to an end. They had four short weeks until graduation. While their move in date of August first seemed so far off, Finn was already on the phone with Bowling Green’s housing office to make sure everything was set and ready to go. He and Santana made the conscious decision to move into the non-traditional family housing just off campus. The small rancher had two bedrooms, a study, living room, kitchen, one and a half baths and a laundry room. It took a lot of peace talks to get Santana’s parents to agree. It came down to Carol Hudson. She had invited the Lopez’s over for dinner one night

**FLASHBACK**

_“I think they are being a bit irresponsible for going off half-cocked and moving in together,” Mrs. Lopez said disdainfully._

_“How are they being irresponsible?” Carol asked simply. When the other woman had no immediate answer, Carol continued. “They are deciding to live in the same house, share expenses – which based on their figures will be pretty minimal – as well as both taking an active role in raising my granddaughter. They have decided this with no influence from my husband or I.”_

_“Well, it was irresponsible for your son to get a girl pregnant and then have the nerve to try and date my daughter,” the Hispanic woman replied, seeming to be grasping at straws._

_“While I agree that getting a girl pregnant in high school was not the best thing to happen,” Carol began. “My son was responsible. Quinn was not. He manned up at the age of sixteen and decided not to abandon his child. He works two jobs and goes to school full time. Even this year with all of this AP classes, he is managing A’s and high B’s. He is working to provide everything his daughter needs. Now, tell me, how is that irresponsible?” The Lopez matriarch was again speechless. “Now, Santana, why don’t you show your mother and father the PowerPoint you showed Burt and I.”_

_“No problem,” she replied. Both families filed out to the desk top computer in the living room to see the presentation. She covered their choices for colleges, costs, amenities breakdown, programs, and assistance programs. Their projected living expenses (even including her paying for her car and cellphone.) At the end of the slideshow she included all the money they had received from which scholarship and financial aid. They combined from both of them, had nearly enough money for a full year. “We plan on taking summer classes and finding part time jobs next year.”_

_“When did you have time to do all this?” her father asked. “You’re never home.”_

_“I’m here, working on my future,” she replied._

_“This girl is scary good with numbers. Between her and Dave Karovsky, we were able to find out that one of my new employees helped himself to some extra money,” Burt said. “She isn’t here lying around. They do their school work, watch Char, and help us out a great deal.”_

_“They have been supportive of Finn and I from day one, unlike some people,” Santana scoffed._

_“Come on Tana, we talked about this,” Burt said, putting an arm around her._

_“But they make me seem like I’m a no nothing freeloader and that you guys must hate me for stealing Finn.”_

_“All that really matters is we know the truth,” Burt replied. “Let them think what they want.”_

**END FLASHBACK**

They had the Lopez’s not endorsing their plan, but not openly fighting them anymore. After Finn called the housing department, he called the financial aid department. He double check that they received all of his and Santana’s FASFA information and all the scholarships they received. After that, he called his student advisor and filled them in on all the AP tests he had and talked over which classes he could opt out of. It turned out that he could skip intro to Spanish, intro to science classes, a writing class, a history class, and calculus. He essentially had a semester taken off right there. He figured he could have classes double up on attributes, and summer classes, he could graduate early.

Finn was elated when he told Santana. They could totally rock out college early. All of these thoughts were going a mile a minute, practically planning out their college years. Their classes depended on class availability, clinicals, and such, but he thought they could get their degrees in three years.

After calling all the college departments, Finn emailed his teachers to schedule his and Santana’s AP exams. He did one last year and got a four. A four of five on the AP test would allow you to opt out of intro level classes. They would all take place the first week in June. He had 6 exams: Calculus, English, Spanish, Biology, Chemistry, and US History. He knew he would at least pass them, especially Spanish. Santana had been a good tutor. They were even teaching Charlotte some simple phrases.


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter 29**

**Graduation**

**June – Age 18**

Graduation day had finally come. All of their friends – including Puck and Brittany – graduated. They both passed their passed their AP tests, getting 4’s and 5’s on them. Finn and Santana went out to celebrate with Kurt and Dave. Carol and Burt got grandparent time. They all went to Breadstix to celebrate and met up with everyone who had finished testing. The foursome stayed together until late, giving them the sleepover excuse. Burt never said anything to either boy when Dave and Santana slept over. Everyone pretty much knew what was going on. As long as everyone was being responsible, it wasn’t going to be a big deal.

Carol was bawling her eyes out at the actual graduation ceremony. Burt had tears in his eyes as well. Artie was the class Valedictorian. He got to make a speech about going on and overcoming adversity, standard shtick. The Salutatorian was actually Dave. He got up and went over to the podium to make his speech.

“Hey everyone,” he began. “I know I’m scheduled to make a speech. But I’m not actually going to give one. I’m actually going to present an award. This award was unanimously awarded to the one person in the senior class who has improved the most since their freshman year here at McKinnley. They have asked me to present this award to...” Rachel Berry began to rise from her seat with her ‘gracious’ smile when her bubble was burst. “Finn Hudson!” Rachel abruptly sat down and had a shocked look on her face. Finn looked equally surprised. He couldn’t believe that the whole faculty had collectively decided that it would be him. “Come on up bro.”

Finn got up and walked over to the podium. Dave gave him a hug and put the medal around his neck. “Thanks man.”

“Don’t thank me just yet,” Dave chuckled. “You have to make a speech now.”

“Only a speech?” Finn joked. “Hey everyone. I’m very humbled by this award. I guess you can say I’ve changed a bit over the years. I’ve grown about a foot, put on about 60 pounds, and had a daughter – yeah, just a little change. I know that I owe the majority of my change to my daughter, Charlotte. Once I found out that I was going to be responsible for another life besides mine, I know that I had a completely new motivation in my life. I needed to grow up. I’d like to think that I’ve accomplished that. I know my mom seems to think so. But receiving this award just reinforces that I’ve made the right decisions. I wouldn’t have made it this far without my wonderful friends and family. But I also wouldn’t have made it without my teachers, especially Mr. Schue, Coach Beiste, Coach Sylvester, and Ms. Pillsberry. You guys have helped advise me on this path and I will be forever grateful. Thank you all so much.” With that final sentiment, Finn made his way back to his seat to join his classmates. There was a deafening applause for his accomplishments.

Carol was openly crying at this point. Her boy was graduating and was being recognized for his accomplishments, by both his teachers as well as his peers. They began giving out diplomas in alphabetical order. Carol cheered and applauded as each of Finn’s and Kurt’s friends got their diplomas: Artie Abrams, Mike Chang, Tina Cohen-Chang, Finn Hudson, Kurt Hummel, Mercedes Jones, Dave Karofsky, Santana Lopez, Brittany Pierce, Noah Puckerman, Matt Rutherford, and Lauren Zizes. There was less applause from their section for Rachel Berry and Quinn Fabray as they walked across the stage.


	30. Chapter 30

**Chapter 30**

**Going Away Party**

**July – Age 18**

Carol and Burt decided to throw a big bash in the back yard for their whole class. Mainly kids were invited but there were some people from church, and their close friends’ parents. Paula Karofsky was over all morning to help with food preparations. Greg Karofsky come over with Dave and helped to set up the tables and chairs they got from the church. The Karofsky’s were unsure how to act around Dave when he first came out but they really tried. They came to a balance. Then he began dating Kurt, which was a whole new experience for all the parents. Burt had them over for dinner like once a month so they could have a more ‘in-law’ relationship. They were much closer than the Lopez family. Santiago and Julia would decline dinner invites. Santana had cried her fair share over her family’s lack of acceptance. Burt had unofficially been the ‘Santana Champion’ and even ended up picking up Santana in the middle of the night after a huge fight with her parents.

**Flashback**

_Burt’s phone began ringing at 1130 pm on a Friday night. He blindly grabbed for it without looking. “Hello?”_

_“Papa Burt, can you come get me?” Santana was crying into the phone._

_“Sweetie, what’s wrong?” he asked, wide awake. He was already out of bed and pulling on his jeans from the day._

_“They kicked me out,” she cried, sobbing. “I’m sitting on my front lawn in my pajamas, crying, because they kicked me out.”_

_“Five minutes,” Burt grunted into the phone. They hung up and Burt proceeded to put his shirt on._

_“Burt, what’s going on?” Carol asked sleepily._

_“They kicked Santana out,” Burt replied. “I’m gonna go pick her up.”_

_“Be careful,” she warned. As soon as Burt left the room, Carol called in to her supervisor and called out of work for the next day, a family emergency. She planned on spending the day helping Santana with whatever she needed._

_Burt didn’t wake Finn, he just hopped in his truck and drove across town to the Lopez house. He found Santana looking broken, sitting on the front lawn. Burt barely put his car in park before he jumped out to go get Santana. She threw herself at him, shaking._

_“Sweetie, get in the truck, I’ll be right there.” She nodded. Burt, however, strode up to the front door and pounded on it to get the occupants attention. It took a few moments for Santiago to answer the door. “I’m taking your daughter back to my house. I’ll be by to pick up her things tomorrow.” Burt turned and walked away from the stunned man._

_“I’m sorry for it being so late, I just didn’t know who to call,” Santana said quietly as they began to drive back to the Humdle household. “I didn’t think Finn could come and not be mad enough to hit them, and Char...”_

_“Don’t you worry about all this,” Burt assured her. “Are you okay? Physically?”_

_“For the most part,” she shrugged. “My mom backhanded me across my face. It still stings a bit.”_

_“Your mother hit you?” Burt said loudly._

_“Not the first time,” Santana murmured._

_“That’s it, you’re not going back,” Burt decided. “You’re gonna live with us until you two go to college. And I’m not taking no for an answer.” All Santana could do was nod her head in agreement._

**End Flashback**

Carol and Burt went back that following day to Santana’s house and got all of her stuff, moving her in with them. Her parents were invited to the party, no one was sure if they would come or not.

The Puckermans and Abrams were the first to arrive. Artie wheeled himself out back and parked by the swing set, where Charlotte was swinging away. “Uncle Artie!” she squealed. Charlotte hopped off the swing and crawled into his lap to give him a hug.

“How are you sweetie?” he asked, returning the hug.

“I good, can we do spins?” she asked. Charlotte loved when Uncle Artie did tricks with his wheelchair. He was no different in her eyes, maybe even a bit cooler, and he loved it.

“Yeah, we can do spins,” he chuckled. They wheeled over to the patio area so he wouldn’t tear up the back yard. “You remember the rules?”

“Always hold on,” she repeated dutifully. Artie smiled and felt her wrap her arms around his middle. He spun his chair in circles and popped a few wheelies. Finn looked on with a grin. His daughter didn’t care that Artie was a paraplegic, didn’t care that her uncles were gay, Mercedes was black, and Santana was Hispanic. She would grow up with no boundaries.

Artie’s parents were much more friendly than they were at that game night after Charlotte had been born. Finn thought Rebeckah Puckerman had talked some sense into them. Puck’s mom had been real cool about the whole thing. Seemed to think it evened Puck out. Puck loved Charlotte and his attitude toward women had changed. His girlfriend, Lauren Zizes, was the next to arrive. Puck greeted her parents fondly.

That must have been a catalyst. A lot of people ended up coming the yard. Finn was quite shocked when Sue Sylvester showed up with Becky Jackson in tow. Charlotte was the first one to greet them. “Coach!” she screeched and hugged Sue’s legs. Sue happily picked up Charlotte up and hugged her for real. Once Charlotte was back on the ground, Sue gave Finn a rare hug as well. Charlotte turned her attention to Becky. “You pretty!” Charlotte announced.

“Thanks!” Becky replied. Sue’s heart warmed. Her sister Jeanie had passed away a few months ago and Becky had been helping to fill the void.

“Hey Becky, how’s it going?” Finn asked, leaning down to hug her.

“I’m good, thanks for inviting me,” she replied.

“I don’t think I’ve heard you were doing next year,” Finn mentioned.

“Oh, I’m taking some classes at Lima Community College,” Becky said. “And Coach Sylvester is letting me come back and help coach the JV Cheerios.”

“That’s awesome Becky!” Finn replied enthusiastically.

“Best assistant I’ve ever had,” Sue said proudly. “I can’t just let her go off.”

“Good thinking Coach,” Finn agreed. They chatted a bit before Finn had to go greet more guest that had shown up. Rachel Berry showed up for a few minutes but left when she realized that no one was clamoring to talk to her. What shocked everyone was when Quinn showed up. Since Kurt was holding Charlotte, she made a bee line to them. Kurt noticed and turned to Dave.

“Can you take her in the house?” Kurt asked quietly.

“Yeah, just remember that you can be legally arrested now,” Dave replied. “Come on sweetie!”

“Uncle Dabe!” Charlotte squealed. Dave flew the toddler like an airplane over to where Finn and Santana were.

“Quinn’s here, Kurt’s handling her, but I’m taking my airplane for a landing,” Dave relayed before flying Charlotte into the house.

Meanwhile Quinn was stepping to Kurt. “I have a right to see my kid!”

“Actually you don’t,” Kurt informed her. “And you’re trespassing on private property. SO I suggest you leave before I call the cops.”

“You’re having a party!” she screeched.

“One that you weren’t invited to,” Kurt pointed out.

“I want to see my baby!”

“Did you go to the court suggested counseling?”

“No, I don’t need counseling,” she scoffed.

“Then you don’t get to see your daughter,” Kurt said simply. Dave walked back to Kurt just as Quinn raised her hand to strike at Kurt.

“I would put that hand away if I were you,” Dave said lowly, pushing Kurt behind him.

“And what are you going to do about it you fucking faggot!” Quinn screamed. People began to stop their conversations and look at the crazed blonde.

“I don’t know about my son,” Greg Karofsky chimed in. “But I’ve already called the cops. Don’t you dare call my son, or any gay person, that name ever again.”

Quinn stood there shocked. One of Lima’s finest walked into the backyard and made a straight path to Greg. “Hey, just got the call in, what’s going on?”

“Hi Officer Jackson,” Kurt greeted, coming out from behind Dave. “This is Quinn Fabray. She is trespassing, and calling us derogatory hateful words, and possibly attempting to kidnap my niece.”

“Serious allegations,” the officer commented. “Would you like to press charges?”

“I would like to confer with the rest of the family, if I might?” The officer agreed to this caveat.

“Certainly, I’ll just put her in the back of the car,” he replied. “You can decide if I drop her home or take her in.”

“Thank you,” Kurt nodded. He walked over to the house where his family was gathered; the Karofsky’s followed. “We have an option of pressing charges.”

“I really don’t want this mess, but I feel like if we don’t, she’ll just keep trying,” Finn sighed.

“At the very least, get a restraining order,” Burt advised.

“Okay,” Finn agreed. The group walked over to Officer Jackson. “Hi, I’m Finn Hudson.”

“I’m assuming that the girl in the quad car has something to do with you?” he asked.

“She gave birth to my daughter but signed away all of her parental rights,” Finn explained, showing a picture of Charlotte on his phone. “She tried to sue me for custody last fall, but she lost. The judge only appointed her supervised visitation after completing a course of counseling sessions. So far she had refused to get help.”

“Okay, would you like to pursue the attempting kidnapping charges?”

“Not at this time, but I do want to go about getting a restraining order for the time I’m still in the area, at the very least,” Finn explained. “I leave for college soon, Bowling Green, so I’ll be gone in like 30 days or so.”

“I’ll charge her with malicious trespassing, where in a restraining order is a part of the punishment,” Officer Jackson decided. “Kurt, would you like to add anything?”

“She attempted to hit me, and called my boyfriend a fucking faggot,” Kurt mused. “That could be considered a hate crime.”

“I’ll put that on top as well,” the officer agreed. “I’m sorry this had to happen at your party.”

“Us too, would you like to have any food before you take her in?” Carol offered.

“That’s a nice offer, but I have to pass,” he replied gratefully. “I’ll get this processed and give you guys a call.” Finn gave his number for the contact and Officer Jackson left the back yard.

The rest of the party went off without a hitch. The Lopez’s didn’t show up. Charlotte was happy as a clam and Finn tried to put the drama behind him.


	31. Chapter 31

**Chapter 31**

**August – Age 18**

**Move in Day!**

Bowling Green State University was allowing certain groups to move in as of August 1st. Finn and Santana wanted to take advantage of this so they could get Charlotte settled before they started their classes the last week of the month. Burt went out and rented a U-haul for their transportation. They were taking the bedroom set from Finn’s room, because it was still fairly new, and the set from Charlotte’s room. Santana had been super frugal with some of their other furniture. She had gotten an old sofa set from an old woman who was moving in with her children after her husband passed. It was a leather set and was still in pretty good shape. She got a cheap kitchen table and chairs off someone from Facebook. Burt and Carol sprung and got Finn a new desk and laptop to start off his college career right. And Burt brow beat the Lopez’s into getting Santana a new laptop as well. Once the couple saw the space they were moving into and seeing how things they were bringing with them would fit, then they could decide if they needed any more furniture. Carol had put their old furniture in storage, since Burt’s sets were nicer; she was offering to give them the furniture if they needed some extra.

Burt and Finn drove the U-haul with Kurt and Dave driving Finn’s SUV off to the campus and Santana drove down with Charlotte, and Carol drove their car, so the four of them could come back home. It was only a 2 hour drive to get to their soon to be house. It was a quaint little rancher settled down the street from the main campus. It was a light blue house with a dark brown door and dark blue shutters. There was a fenced in back yard for Charlotte to play in, and a two car driveway. This was the perfect little house for them, at least from the outside. Santana was the first through the door so she could get a plan formulated as to where things were going to go.

Their place had three bedrooms and two full bathrooms. There was a master bedroom with a bathroom attached, a bedroom for Charlotte and a detached guest bathroom. Their third bedroom was going to be used as an office. Their living room was surprisingly large, so they would need more than the small leather sofa that they got from the old woman. Carol and Burt would be bringing the truck back with the second sofa for the living room, the loveseat/sofa bed for the office, and the reclining armchair. Their kitchen was large enough to be an eat-in kitchen, and there was no dining room. There was an attic with access in the office. Outside, there was a small shed on the corner of the property, so they could keep a lawn mower and any other outside amenities. Finn decided that they needed another small one at the back of the house, to house things like snow shovels and stuff they would typically store in a garage – which they were lacking.

Charlotte was pretty excited. Kurt was regulated to playing with her as the rest of them unloaded the U-Haul and cars. There was a lot to bring. They brought pretty much all of their stuff, and all the stuff they had been gathering since they got their admittance letters. Dave and Finn took most of the heavy lifting, and Burt was fighting and trying to get in on it. They got the bed frames all set up and the mattresses brought in and set up before anything else. The sofa was brought in next and set up against the short wall. The small entertainment center was next to come in and be set up and the TV brought in. It seemed like lunch time was catching up with them and they all headed out to a pizza place down the street. This was a good thing, because after they were all full, they did food shopping. Carol insisted on paying for the whole thing, especially since they had to stock everything from the ground up.

Charlotte was tired out by the time they got back, so Santana laid her on her bed and covered her with the first blanket she found in the boxes. It was certainly nice to have her sleep for nearly two hours so they could get things cleaned and set up without having to worry about a small child running around. Dave set up the computer as Kurt was arranging things in Finn’s bedroom. Santana was putting all the groceries away with Carol and trying to set things up in the kitchen. They wanted to get most of the things put away and set up because they were going to be staying there for the time being. Charlotte seemed pretty chill about the whole thing, but this would give them time to get her more used to the idea of living at college.

Burt and Carol brought two frozen lasagna’s in the car and they were thawing since the morning so there would be a dinner type food for everyone when they got hungry once again. Santana really had no say in her bedroom decorations and how things were going to be arranged. Kurt had brought a whole set of decorations, and had taken over the wardrobe. Burt was setting up the television and the cable wires. Finn was on the phone with the university, figuring out how they went about turning the cable and internet to the house and to see if there were any activities for freshmen and/or children coming up before classes started.

Overall, the move in process could have been way worse for them. There were certainly enough people to get everything set up and moved into at least the right-for-the-current-moment locations. Kurt got into the SUV with Carol and Dave joined Burt in the U-haul to get back home. Santana and Finn both had their cars in their driveway and their little family back in their home. This was the first time in both of their lives that they were living on their own, and had a small child as their responsibility, without the aid of the grandparents and uncles being around all the time.

“I can’t believe we have our own place,” Finn breathed. Charlotte was laying in the living room, watching the kids’ channel they managed to find.

“I can’t believe we got everything moved in today and all set up,” Santana commented. They were snuggling on the love seat, exhausted from their long day of heavy lifting. “I can’t wait to see what Kurt did to our room.”

“You haven’t gone in yet?”

“Well, he told me to wait until I was ready for bed, and that I would be surprised,” Santana explained.

“I can only imagine,” Finn groaned.

“He also promised, under painful threats, that he wouldn’t go too far,” Santana assured him.

“I can’t wait to see it then,” he replied. Charlotte, during the short conversation, had fallen asleep in front of the television, and her baby snoring was getting louder and louder. “I’ll go put her to bed and then we should go check it out.”

“Deal,” she agreed. They untangled themselves from the love seat and went their separate ways to get things ready for bed. Finn gently scooped up Charlotte, trying not to wake her up. They put her in her freshly made bed, with the pool noodles under the fitted sheet so she wouldn’t roll out of bed. Finn tucked her in and gave her a kiss before going around to his bedroom. Santana had gone to go double check that the front door and back door were indeed locked and the house was shut up tight. “Ready?”

“Yeah, let’s see what Kurt left for us,” Finn said. They opened the door and flicked the lights on. “Oh goodness.”

The room had been painted blue and Finn’s furniture was a naturally dark wood. But the decorations brought out the accents in the wood, and there was a few blue stars spread throughout. There was an ornate, yet strong looking bedside lamp on each table. Finn’s was more masculine, while Santana’s was more feminine. There was a little plaque that said ‘Bless this Home’. Santana went to check their closets and started to giggle. “He color coded our wardrobe,” she could barely get any air in to speak.

“He would,” Finn sighed. The room was much more to his liking and he could tell that Santana liked it as well. The design was simple, but there were little things around that just made it theirs. Kurt had gotten a cast of Charlotte’s hands when she turned two and got that bronzed. This was now on the shelves of his dresser. There were pictures of their little family all over the shelves as well. Singles, couples, group shots, and a whole mix of everything. Finn had the football of the Championship game they won his Sophomore year, where he threw the winning touchdown. It was signed by the whole team, and Kurt had it put in a box for him. Kurt did right by both parties and they wouldn’t change a thing.


	32. Chapter 32

**Chapter 32**

**September- Age 19**

**Not a Legal Guardian**

Another day in the life. Santana double checked the schedule they had filled out on the wall of the study before she left for the morning:

**Santana:**

Biology 2 – MWF 8:00-9:15

Inorganic Chemistry 2 – MWF 9:25-10:40

Physics (algebra-based) – MWF 10:50-12:05

Statistics – MWF 12:15-1:30

Introduction to nursing – TR 8:00-10:30

Biology 2 Laboratory – T 10:40-1:15

Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory – R 10:40-1:15

**Finn:**

Introduction to Social Work – MWF 2:30-3:45

Morals and Ethics – MW 4:00-6:30

Introduction to Psychology – TR 2:00-4:00

Intermediate Spanish – TR 4:30-6:30

Introduction to Sociology – TR 7:00-9:00

It had been three weeks of classes already and there was a system worked out. Santana had classes that were pretty much done by 1:30 every day. Then Finn started at 2:30. Finn got Charlotte for breakfast and lunch, while Santana got dinner and bed time. Charlotte typically went down around 7:30 every night after her bath, and slept on average 12 hours – for which they were both counting their stars for. They had ample time so far to do their homework and get in some quality time with each other. Classes weren’t too difficult yet, so they did manage to have some free time. They were very grateful for the fact that Charlotte was very adaptable.

At the end of the day, Santana had put on some music and she and Charlotte were dancing around the living room. This was a fairly typical event in their house. But tonight, Charlotte tripped over her own feet and hit her head on the coffee table. She sat on the ground and immediately began to cry.

“Oh Sweetie, come here,” Santana said as she scooped the little girl up, cradling her close. “Let me see.” There was a gash on her head, bleeding quite profusely – as head wounds are wont to do. Santana immediately went to the bathroom and broke out the first aid kit. Charlotte was whimpering at this point. “You got a big boo boo sweetie. I need to clean it. Can you be a big girl for me? And hold super still?”

Charlotte sniffled and nodded. Using the phrase ‘big girl’ usually garnered compliance in the toddler. Santana poured some hydrogen peroxide onto some gauze and slowly dabbed at the cut above her right eye. Charlotte began to cry again but she didn’t move. “You are doing so well. I’m almost done. Then I’m going to put some butterfly Band-Aids on the cut. There we go, all clean.” Santana put the butterfly closures on the wound and then cleaned the now dried blood off her face and neck. “Okay big girl, let’s go get this checked out.”

Santana had Charlotte set in her dinner chair where she gathered the correct papers and cards to go to the Urgent Care. With Charlotte buckled into the back seat, Santana drove the short few minutes to the medical facility. This was where things started to go downhill.

Santana checked Charlotte in, and gave all the appropriate paperwork to the front desk clerk. While Santana was straightening things out, they took Charlotte back to get her vitals and get the process started. But they wouldn’t ultimately let Santana back in the room with Charlotte, because she wasn’t a legal guardian.

 **To FINN:** Call me 911!!!

A minute later, Santana answered the phone crying. “What’s wrong babe?”

“C-Char fell wh-when we were d-dancing. She has a g-gash above her r-right eye. I cleaned it and t-took her to the urgent care. They took her back and they won’t let me back or tell me what’s going on!”

“Why won’t they let you go back?!”

“They said I wasn’t her legal guardian!” Santana wailed.

“I’ll be there in 10 minutes, sit tight,” Finn said definitively, before hanging up the phone.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Finn burst into the Urgent Care and demanded that he and Santana be taken to their daughter. Charlotte stopped crying when she saw her Daddy and TanTan. “TanTan!” Charlotte screamed. Santana went over immediately and scooped up the little girl.

“You’re okay sweetie,” Santana coo’d.

“Who did the beautiful butterfly job?” the doctor asked, impressed.

“I did,” Santana replied, kissing Charlotte’s head. “Does she need stitches?”

The Doctor turned to Finn and replied. “I think that three or four stitches should do it.”

“Why don’t you tell my girlfriend, since she asked the question,” Finn said pointedly. He was pissed that they weren’t treating Santana with the respect that she deserved. He was also relieved that Charlotte was alright. Now he faced the injustice.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “But it’s company policy to only discuss treatments with next of kin.”

“Since Santana is in nursing school, she is raising Charlotte with me, I believe she needs to be included,” Finn said firmly. The doctor sighed but nodded.

“I think three or four stitches should do,” the doctor explained, now facing both of them. “It was very thoroughly cleaned and closed with butterflies. That was the best option that we could have hoped for. We can wrap her in the blanket or you can hold her while we stitch, your choice.”

“I’ll hold her,” Santana said fiercely. Finn nodded in agreement. “Hey Char, they need to fix your cut. Now, they’re going to give you a little needle. It’s only gonna hurt for a second, but you can squeeze your Daddy’s hand as hard as you want to. But then you won’t feel it when he stitches you. Can you be my big girl for that needle?”

“You sing to me?” Charlotte asked. Santana nodded, chuckling softly. “I big girl.”

“You certainly are sweetie,” Santana replied, kissing her head.

Finn pulled a chair up next to Santana and held Charlotte’s hand. “You go ahead and squeeze my hand when it hurts. It will hurt less if you squeeze.”

The doctor showed Charlotte the little needle. He gave her three little injections and then waited for it to be totally numb. “Okay, which color do you want me to use?” he asked. There were blue, black, purple, green, and pink. Charlotte picked the purple ones. “Now, you’re going to feel me tug on you, kinda like this,” the doctor explained, gently tugging on her hair. “But you shouldn’t feel any pain. You let me know, and then I can go back and make you more numb.”

Charlotte came through her four stitches like a champ. They got her after care instruction and headed home. Once they got there, both Finn and Santana were too frazzled to cook, so they ordered Chinese food. Charlotte fell asleep around 8, not long after they got home.

“That can’t happen again,” Finn said vehemently.

“I am so sorry, Finn!” Santana pleaded. “It all happened so fast.”

“No, I’m not upset with you at all!” he explained, pulling her close to him. “I was a klutzy child, she will certainly be as well. I’m mad about them not letting you back with Char. That probably made her more scared and upset than necessary.”

“I went from mad to very upset,” Santana said. “I was hoping to take care of all this without getting you out of class, but I wasn’t expecting this to happen. I had all the papers Carol said we needed, but they didn’t seem to care.”

“I know it’s going to be asking a lot of you, especially since we haven’t been dating officially for a year yet,” Finn began. “But would you legally become one of Charlotte’s legal guardians?”

“Heaven forbid this happens again, I don’t want any of us to go through what happened tonight again,” Santana replied. “I’ll do anything I need to do not to have this happen again.”

“Okay, I’m calling Sam,” Finn said. “She’ll know what we need to do.” He got out his phone and dialed Sam Carter’s number.

“Finn Hudson?”

“Hi, Ms. Carter, I’m sorry for calling this late. I hope I’m not disturbing you? You said to call if we ran into any legal problems with Charlotte.”

“No, I just got home,” she replied. “Is everything okay?”

Finn explained the situation that just occurred. “I want Santana to have legal guardianship over Charlotte, so this doesn’t happen again.”

“I can mail you the proper forms and you have to get it notarized and mailed back to me,” Sam replied. “But if things get more serious between you and Santana, she might consider adopting Charlotte to make things indisputable.”

“We will keep that in mind,” Finn replied. “Thanks so much. I thought this would be such a long process.”

“It can be, but since Quinn is not in the picture, things are much easier for her guardianship to be legalized,” Sam explained. “I’m glad you called and that it was something I could help with. Look out for papers hopefully by this weekend.”

“Thanks so much Ms. Carter!” Finn said.

“You give both of your girls a hug from me,” Sam chuckled as she wrapped up their conversation.

“Will do, thanks. Bye.”

“Bye.”

Finn let out a sigh of relief and hugged Santana firmly. “That’s from Sam,” Finn explained. “And this is from me.” He leaned down and kissed her quite thoroughly. “I hope you realized how much I appreciate how much you do for Char.”

“I love that little girl so much,” she sighed, squeezing him tightly. “Thank you for letting me in her life.”

“Thank you for being in my life.”

“Now I think you should appreciate me, back in our bedroom,” Santana said coyly. Finn chuckled and hauled her up carry her over his shoulder back to their bedroom.


	33. Chapter 33

**Chapter 33**

**October – Age 19**

**Fall Break**

Finn and Santana were elated to have a fall break. They had off Thursday, Friday, and Monday. Finn’s last class ended at 6:30 Wednesday night so Santana got home at her normal 1:30 time and began packing. It was only like an hour and a half drive, so they could just leave as soon as Finn got home. Charlotte got to pick out her outfits and Santana packed a few extras as well. Finn mentioned going out one night for their anniversary so she packed a nice outfit. After she had all the girl stuff packed, she double checked what Finn had packed the night before. There were a few shirts she switched out so things matched a bit better, but overall, he didn’t do a bad job. They had one large duffle bag for the three of them for the five days they were going to be home. Santana made sure she packed her backpack, and made sure that Finn had his already packed. They planned to get a few hours of homework in as Carol already planned on stealing Charlotte for a while when they got home. She had two lab reports to finish, a three page paper, and a statistics packet. Finn had at least an essay for Spanish, a paper for sociology, and he needed to work on his morals and ethics 15 page paper.

Finn pulled in their little drive way at quarter of seven. “Daddy!” Charlotte squealed. She ran and hugged his legs.

“Hey baby!” Finn said, picking her up. “Did you and Tan get packed to see Nana and Poppop?”

“Yes!”

“Good girl,” he praised. Then he turned to Santana. “How’d it go?”

“Better than I thought. I let her pick out her outfits,” she replied before giving him a peck on the lips. “Much easier.”

“Good. I need to eat a sandwich or something, and then we can go,” Finn said, walking over to the fridge. When he opened the door, there was a sandwich already made and chilling. “You made me a sandwich?”

“I knew you’d be hungry” she shrugged. He retrieved the sandwich and walked back over to her.

“You’re the best girlfriend ever!” he announced before giving her a big kiss. Charlotte giggled. “Alright, I’ll eat and then we can go.”

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

It was around nine by the time they pulled into Carol and Burt’s driveway. Charlotte was passed out in her car seat. Santana got her back pack and Charlotte, while Finn grabbed his back pack and their duffle bag. Carol and Burt were in the living room watching TV when they arrived.

“Hey!” Burt whispered excitedly. He got up from his chair and gave Finn a manly hug. He went to kiss Charlotte softly, and then kissed Santana’s cheek. Carol followed up shortly after.

“You can go put her up in her room, we just put new beds in your rooms,” Carol said. Santana nodded and took Charlotte up to lay in the middle of the queen sized bed. When she returned, Carol was fussing over Finn. He would never be too old to be her baby.

“So how’s school going?” Burk asked, putting an arm around her shoulders.

“It’s a lot, but we are managing,” she said honestly. “We brought some homework with us to get done.”

“Well, we do want to see you two, but we can certainly take Char for a while so you can get work done.”

“We’d really appreciate it,” Santana said gratefully.

“Are you guys’ hungry?” Carol asked.

“I could always eat,” Finn admitted, his stomach agreeing with him.

“I’m a little hungry,” Santana replied. And with that, they let themselves be parented. It was a nice break.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Carol had to work Thursday but Burt took off so he could hang with Charlotte. He told them to sleep in and get some work done. They would be home later. They slept in until eight, which was never a reality. “So what do you want to do on our first child-free morning?” Finn asked.

“Morning sex” Santana replied with no hesitation.

“I like the way you think,” he grinned. With that he rolled over and kissed her.

“Condom,” she bit out. Finn reached in his book bag and grabbed one out. Santana took it from him and put it on. She then clambered her way up on top of Finn and sank down on him. Finn rather enjoyed the view in front of him. They barely ever were able to have sex with the lights on since Charlotte still would occasionally wake up and come into their bedroom.

They took their time in finishing, enjoying just being with each other. Finn went down first and cooked breakfast. Santana got a quick shower before bringing their book bags downstairs. They took their time eating before starting homework. Finn ran off to get a shower as Santana got started on her biology lab report. She had gotten through the introduction and materials while Finn showered. It felt nice to be able to get work done without feeling on guard every second.

Finn began typing out his essay in Spanish. He would read sentences out loud to see if they sounded right. Santana finished her biology lab report and started her statistics packet. Since she was boss at math, that packet only took her an hour. Finn finished his essay and began writing his sociology paper. It was only two pages and he already had a bunch of resources. By noon they finished quite a bit of their work. They decided to snuggle in Burt’s lazy boy chair and watch some trashy day time TV for their well-deserved break.

Burt brought Charlotte back around 1 and found them making out in his chair. “Daddy!” Charlotte squealed. They couple broke apart and blushed.

“Did you have a fun morning with Poppop?” Finn asked.

“Yah,” she replied happily. She ran over and scrambled up on the couple.

“What did you do?”

“Swings!”

“You went to the park?” Finn smiled.

“We fed the ducks,” Burt filled in. “We walked around, did the swings, see saw, I helped her climbed the monkey bars. I’m beat.”

“Well, I’ll make some lunch, then you two can have a nap,” Santana smirked.

“Sounds good to me,” Burt said. Santana went in and made a few hot dogs for everyone. Once they were consumed, Burt took Charlotte up to take her nap. Finn and Santana realized that after about a half hour, Burt hadn’t come back down.

“I’ll go check” Santana replied. “You start your ethics research.” She got up and went to check on the duo. It was the cutest scene, that she couldn’t resist taking a picture. Burt was curled up on the bed next to Charlotte. Once she snapped a few frames, she closed the door and rejoined Finn downstairs. “This had got to be one of the cutest pictures ever.”

When she showed Finn the picture, he burst out laughing. “Char must have really worn him out,” Finn commented.

“I couldn’t help but take these. I’m gonna send them to Carol, give her something to laugh about at work,” Santana replied. Once her texts were sent off, she curled up on Finn, getting some much needed alone time with him. They each did get periods of alone time, but rarely together because they were always exhausted or Charlotte would wake up. It was nice to relax in a big arm chair, watching daytime talk shows. Carol came home at six to find Finn and Santana on the couch, feet out, two lap tops open, working on papers.

“I can’t thank you enough sweetheart,” Carol said in lieu of a greeting. “That picture made my day.”

“I’m glad it did,” Santana replied. “Burt has her out back on the swings. But they both slept for a good two hours.”

“I’ll bet Burt was pooped. But the exercise is good for him, his cholesterol is a bit high,” Carol said. “Were you two able to get some work done?”

“Yeah,” Finn said. “I’ve gotten my essay and a paper done, and I’m still trying to source my other paper.”

“I’ve gotten my stats packet done, a biology lab report, and most of my chemistry lab report done. Just one more paper left,” Santana replied.

“You guys are so smart,” Carol praised. “So what are we going to be in the mood for dinner?”

“Oh, Carol, I’ll cook, you worked all day,” Santana insisted. There was a battle of wills, but Santana won out.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Finn got up and went to the shop with Burt for the day – one of the guys called out Friday and Saturday. He would be getting his usual pay, which would be great, since Finn wanted to take Santana out on a date for their one year anniversary. Santana had intended to spend the day with Carol and Charlotte, but Carol ended up taking Charlotte to go grocery shopping. Santana was at loose ends. Alone time was definitely a foreign concept to her anymore. The first thing she decided to do was get a nice, hot, long bubble bath. She put Pandora on her phone and sank beneath the bubbles. A full hour soaking and listening to music did a world of wonder. She felt fully refreshed and able to finish her three page paper as Carol kept Charlotte entertained.

“Hey, Santana,” Carol said as they ate their sandwiches. “Have your parents actually talked to you since you’ve been in town?” Carol asked.

“I texted them yesterday morning, but I haven’t heard anything back yet,” Santana shrugged.

“I’m sorry sweetie,” Carol replied.

“They liked me better when I was a horrible person,” she replied. “I’m still living my dream, but they can’t accept the fact that I’m doing that with Finn.”

“I’m not sure they ‘liked’ when you say you were ‘horrible’,” Carol reasoned. “I’m sure it was something they understood. But you dating a guy with a child is a little outside of their comfort zone.”

“I know. It was out of mine too, but we are both going to school and raising Charlotte as best we can. We have our schedules worked out to be able to have one of us at home at all times,” Santana explained. “We do our homework – mostly when she sleeps. But we are doing well. Finn really helps me out since I have some more involved classes. But I couldn’t do this without them.”

“Have you ever told them that?” Carol asked.

“That would require them having an actual conversation with me.”

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Carol and Santana chatted and played with Charlotte until the boys got home around 6. “Hey,” Finn greeted all three of his girls with a kiss. “I made a reservation for our anniversary tonight at that little Italian place across town.”

“Yum. I call shower first then,” Santana claimed. “I need to do my hair up nice.”

“No problem,” Finn replied. He went to take Santana’s place playing with Charlotte while Santana went off to shower. It definitely helped his psyche to get back into the shop and do some manual labor. College was hard for him, but he was so determined to make it and be a success, it was his drive. Charlotte was his drive. He wanted to provide the best possible life for her.

Soon enough, Santana was out of the shower and Finn got to scrub away all of the grime of the automotive business. He even scrubbed super well under his fingernails. In some ways, he was still in disbelief that they had been officially dating for a year now. His life had come so far in the past three years. When they were both ready, Finn drove them out to the restaurant. They had never been this place before. Their group mainly went to Breadstix because it was cheap, had endless breadsticks, and mostly everyone from McKinnley went there. Now that Finn and Santana had left Lima, it wasn’t something they felt like reliving. This place was awesome. Finn was surprised by how good this place was, especially for Lima. They felt more like grown-ups going out for their anniversary. They got to chat about their classes, struggles, and triumphs.


	34. Chapter 34

**Chapter 34: Friendsgiving**

**November – Age 19 – College Freshman**

Surviving was what they were doing... and doing well if they said so themselves. Santana was maintaining 22 credits and Finn 20, raising Char, and maintaining a reasonable level of sanity. They had too much work on their plate to go home for Thanksgiving dinner. Too many projects due, studying for finals. They had two more weeks left, less than, before the end of the semester. So Santana invited a few people from their classes – who lived far and couldn’t go home – to their little house for a Friendsgiving dinner.

Susan Ellis was a native Texan. She was also a nursing major, so in most of Santana’s classes. Since she was more of a traditional student, she wasn’t taking as many classes. But the girls got along and often tried to study together when they could. Sarah thought Charlotte was adorable and they interacted fairly well. She was also their super enthusiastic clapper as they began potty training.

George Myer was in Finn’s Spanish class and was from Pittsburgh. He was going for a degree in business management and felt like Spanish could help him in this day and age. They got along fairly well. It was quite shocking to him that Finn had a child, but he accepted it. Santana also invited John Higgins from her science classes. He was a biochemical engineering major and was from New Jersey. He was not real keen about spending time around a small child, but Charlotte eventually won him over. She made him sit her in his lap during a study break. He accepted Charlotte as his lap ornament from then on.

Finally Finn invited Amanda Simpkins, a teaching major from his intro to Psychology and Sociology classes. She was smitten with Charlotte at first sight – a picture on Finn’s cell phone – and was super excited to be spending Friendsgiving with the little family. She didn’t really have much family back in Florida, so this suited her just fine. Santana really liked Amanda, and she came over early to help cook and study with Finn.

They were giggling as they chopped up vegetables and mixed the stuffing when Finn got up. He came out of their room with sleep pants on and no shirt. He was greeted by some wolf whistles. “Good morning handsome,” Amanda teased.

“Morning, Panda,” Finn muttered sleepily.

“Panda?” Santana questioned. Amanda shrugged.

“S too early for full names,” Finn grumbled. He had been up all night because Charlotte had a nightmare. “I need coffee.”

“A mug or an IV?” Santana teased.

“A mug for now,” he replied. She made him a very large mug of coffee, just the way he liked it. Then she popped a bagel in the toaster for him as well. After a few sips of that liquid gold, Finn was more coherent. “She just wouldn’t go back to sleep.”

“I know. Hopefully she’ll sleep a while longer,” Santana commented.

“I hope. And hopefully with all the excitement and turkey, she’ll go to sleep around normal time tonight,” Finn replied.

“I’ll make sure she is good and tuckered out for ya,” Amanda chimed in.

“I’m sure she’ll be thrilled,” Finn agreed.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Their friends trickled in, each bringing a side dish along with them. John brought some sweet potato casserole, Susan brought all the fixings for a salad, George brought rolls. Since Amanda brought some supplies and helped Santana cook, she was off the hook. They had the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and cranberry sauce. While things were cooking, the would take turns studying, and entertaining Charlotte.

Finn said grace before they all got their food buffet style and sat on whatever available place that they could get to and have their food comfortably. Charlotte decided that she wanted to sit with Amanda, which gave Finn and Santana time to eat their meal without a child interruption – quite a rare occurrence these days.

“I’m thankful for friends like you guys that decided to have Friendsgiving for all of us sad sacks that couldn’t make it home to our families,” Amanda said as she undid the button on her jeans. “And I’m thankful that we are all good cooks.”

“I will second that,” John said. “I’m thankful that I’ve survived this far into college without crashing and burning.”

“I’m thankful that this food is so delicious,” Susan said, also undoing the button on her jeans.

“I’m thankful you’ve included me in this little gathering,” George said.

“I’m thankful that you all took the time to make something and come celebrate with us,” Santana said.

“I’m thankful for the little family that I have made here,” Finn said. Finn had a family, both blood, relationship, and friendship; this made him a very wealthy man indeed.


	35. Chapter 35

**Chapter 35: The Finals Blues**

**December – Age 19 – Freshman Year College**

Neither one of them could honestly remember what they were even fighting about at this point. It felt like they were yelling just to yell. Thank goodness Charlotte was a deep sleeper. “Gah, I’m just gonna go sleep on the couch!” Santana shouted.

“No, I’m not letting us go to bed angry!” Finn retaliated. He followed her out to the living room. “We need to sit down and figure out what this whole fight is even about.” Santana still looked pissed, but she sat on the couch and looked at him. “My mom has always told me never to go to bed angry. We need to figure out why we are so mad.”

“I don’t even know,” Santana admitted frustratedly. She rubbed her face tiredly. “I’ve been so frustrated with finals.”

“We knew this was going to be hard,” Finn agreed. “Charlotte having a cold doesn’t help much either.”

“I don’t want to blame her though,” she said earnestly. “I’m terrified I’m gonna fail this semester and have to leave school and have nowhere to go.”

“What?”

“If I fail out, I will have to leave campus, you’ll hate me, Carol and Burt wouldn’t want me anymore. I can’t go back to my parents. I’ll have no one,” she was crying now, tears streaming down her face.

“Babe,” Finn sighed. He sat close to her on the couch and put an arm around her shoulders. “I could never hate you.”

“But I would be a failure!”

“You won’t fail,” Finn reminded her. “You have aced all of your exams so far. You mathematically cannot fail. You need to just forget about all of that.”

“Failure terrifies me nearly as much as everyone in my life hating me.”

“I don’t think I could ever hate you. Carol and Burt either. Charlotte refuses to give up her Tan Tan,” Finn explained. “And I’m pretty sure I can’t hate you because I’m fairly certain that I’m in love with you.”

At this sentiment, Santana looked up from her spot curled into Finn’s chest. “You love me?”

“Well, I’ve never felt like this before, about anyone, so I’m calling it love,” Finn said. “Heaven forbid you fail, I’ll never kick you away. You’re such an integral part of my family, very important to Charlotte and me. I couldn’t let you go.” Santana began to cry harder.

“I love you too,” she sobbed. “I’m just so scared of the future.”

“I think we all are honestly,” Finn agreed. “I’m constantly afraid I’ll wind up a bum and lose Charlotte.”

“But that will never happen!” Santana insisted.

“And me kicking you out – especially for potentially failing a class – wouldn’t happen,” Finn reasoned right back.

“Logically I know that,” she said softly. “But I am still having some bad thoughts.”

“You know you can always talk to me.”

“I know, but I don’t want to burden you. You already have enough on your plate.”

“But you can’t keep bottling things up,” Finn insisted. “Call Ms. Pillsbury. I still talk to her like once a month.”

“I might do that,” she admitted.

“We’ll call next week, after finals are over, and before our winter classes start,” Finn suggested.

“Sounds good,” Santana nodded.

“Are we good?” Finn questioned after a few minutes of silence.

“Yeah, I’m just scared,” she replied.

“I know we’re both tired and stressed,” Finn said.. “Let’s get some sleep now, and we’ll talk again in the morning before you go for your finals.”

“This is why I love you.”

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Santana managed to set up a time to speak with Ms. Pillsbury early the next week. She was pleasantly surprised with the guidance counselor’s helpful insights and tips to help mitigate the anxiety that she was feeling. She also suggested that they contact the campus health program, and see if they had mental health services. While this was not something Santana would have done, because she didn’t have mental problems, but she did see that her anxiety would fall under that category. Her and Finn were in a better place after her phone call to the ginger, and she felt much more confident in the rest of her semester. They agreed to not let bad feelings build up, but talk to each other or at least Ms. Pillsbury until they could get campus services figured out.


	36. Chapter 36

**Chapter 36 – New Beginnings**

January – Age 19 – Freshman Year College

Talking to Ms. Pillsbury was just what Santana needed. It gave her the confidence to tackle her two winter classes: Organic Chemistry 1 and Fundamentals of Nursing and Assessment Across the Life Span. This semester was only 5 weeks, so the classes were intensive and every day. She had class from 830-2 and Finn took his classes from 230 to 8. He also had 2 classes: Social Work Research Methods and Sociology of Mental Illness. They were both very informative classes and really did help him understand more about Quinn and her behavior. This was something he also spoke to Ms. Pillsbury about.

They had gotten their grades back and both passed with flying colors. All A’s, so their college careers could be started with a 4.0 GPA. It was a breath of fresh air, especially for Santana. She had quite a difficult professor for Organic Chemistry. Santana actually finished with the highest grade in the class at an 89, a B+. Bur she also got an A in her nursing class. Finn got an A and A- in his classes. This gave them a few days to themselves in between the winter semester and the spring semester. They just relaxed at their house, since they had been home for Christmas, they didn’t feel the need to head back there just yet.

Finn’s schedule got a bit more difficult while Santana got a bit of a break. She only had one lab this semester. But now they definitely had a routine down with Charlotte. It wasn’t ideal, but they could put her in front of Sesame Street and get some work done.

“Hey Mom,” Finn answered the phone the night before their semester began.

“Hi sweetie, how are you?” Carol asked excitedly.

“Just relaxing before we start school back up again tomorrow,” he replied. “We’ve had a few days off to decompress.”

“I forget, what times are you guys in classes?”

“Tana has the morning, until about 1:30, then I have class from 2 until 10.”

“That’s super late,” Carol worried. “Is that going to be too much?”

“It’s only 2 days a week, but someone needs to be here with Char.”

“You guys aren’t utilizing the day care?”

“We don’t want to until we have to,” Finn said. “We probably will have to next year for sure.”

“She does need to socialize.”

“We do take her to the park for a few hours on the weekends,” Finn explained.

“Alright,” Carol conceded. “So what kinds of classes are you two taking?”

“I’ll let her tell you hers. But I’m taking: Diversity, Oppression, and Social Justice; Social Welfare Institutions; Social Psychology; Intermediate Spanish 2; and Statistics. Hey Tan, come tell mom what classes you’re taking. She’ll understand better than me,” Finn chuckled, passing the phone to his girlfriend.

“Hey Carol! How are you?”

“I’m good. I just wanted to check in before we lost you guys to the semester.”

“Yeah, gonna be a busy one.”

“What are you taking?”

“I’m taking Nursing Agency, Adult Health Nursing, Intro to Psych, Intro to Soc, and Microbiology,” Santana explained.

“Finn does seem like he has a harder semester this time. But at least you can borrow his old notes for the Psych and Soc classes.”

“True. Totally,” Santana agreed. “But Finn really enjoys it, so he doesn’t mind too much.”

“I’m glad he really likes this program,” Carol said, and Santana could practically hear her joy through the phone. “I was quite worried about him when he started high school, and even some time after Char was born.”

“Why?”

“Well, he wanted to play football in college,” Carol explained. “He made starting quarterback as a freshman and he was good. But he was never super interested in school as a kid. I was afraid he would end up in a dead end job, hating his life like his father did.”

“Oh,” Santana replied. “So it wasn’t like Finn tells us.”

“Yes and no,” Carol said.” He hated life outside the army, but he couldn’t really handle being in either. He turned to drugs to deal with his pain and anger.”

“Wow.”

“Finn knows most of the story,” Carol said. “I guess one day I will tell him the rest.”

“It will be the right time one day,” Santana said sagely.

“I really didn’t mean for this to be sad, honestly,” Carol insisted. “I just wanted to wish you two the best of luck.”

“Don’t worry about it. We agree with the sentiment.”


	37. Chapter 37

**Chapter 37**

**Valentines Day**

February: Age 19, Spring of Freshman Year

Finn and Santana weren’t kidding when they said they would have a jam packed schedule. Santana had a considerably easier week, and she even had Thursday mornings off. This was time for Finn to get some of his work done. Most of his courses were writing intensive. Santana helped him for Spanish by speaking it at home. It would also help Charlotte become bilingual. It wasn’t super high on Finn’s priority list, but they would help her learn new words.

Even through all of this, Finn felt that they needed to actually go out for Valentine’s Day. He was very secretive about his plans. Amanda was able to babysit. She agreed to stay over only if Finn left money to order pizza, and not pay her. Finn felt bad, because he had offered to pay, but she flatly refused.

So the Saturday following Valentine’s Day, there was a knock at their door. Santana was very confused but got up to answer the door. She opened it, to find Amanda was standing there all bundled up, cheeks all pinked up. “Amanda, what are you doing here?”

“Telling you to go get ready,” she replied cheerily, forcing her way into the room.

“Get ready for what?” Santana asked.

“For our date,” Finn chimed in. He emerged from their bedroom in a dress shirt and Dockers.

“Date?” she questioned.

“Our Valentine’s Day date,” Finn explained. Santana looked pointedly at Amanda. “I’ve asked Panda to babysit Char. So go get ready, you have an hour and a half.” Santana’s face lit up as she raced out of the room and began to get ready. Finn chuckled to himself as he heard the shower turn on. “Thanks for doing this Panda.”

“No problem Finnie,” Amanda joked. “You guys need this.”

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Right up until they had to leave, Santana was running around, trying to find a shoe, do her hair, and finish her make-up. They said their goodbyes and final instructions to Amanda and were off to the Greek restaurant just outside of the main town.

The hostess was the wife of the owner. She was quite affable and sprinkled their table with little heart confetti. “Adorable you two are,” she said heartily.

“Thank you,” Finn replied. He felt like the cat that swallowed the canary. Here he was with a beautiful girl on his arm, who loved his daughter nearly as much as he did. They were succeeding in college. What more could they ask for? It ended up being a great night. They got to talk and laugh, and have a good time. Amanda had texted when she put Char to bed. The couple felt some relief. This was the first time that Charlotte had a babysitter that wasn’t ‘family’. They had finished dinner and gotten dessert when some music came on. “Would you like to dance?” Finn asked, holding out his hand.

“I’d love to,” Santana replied, a smile spreading across her face. She put her hand in his and he led her over to the makeshift dance floor. They swayed together on the dance floor turning in a small circle. “I miss this.”

“I do miss spending one on one time with you,” Finn agreed. “I wish we could do this more often.”

“Maybe we could convince Amanda to come over at least once a month and we can get out and be together,” Santana suggested.

“We can certainly budget for that,” Finn acquiesced.

“I’m glad,” she sighed. “Because as much as I love that little girl, we do need time for just us.”

“I know, now we know for sure she likes Amanda,” Finn replied. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Santana replied. Finn leaned down and gave her a kiss. The hostess was nearly in tears of how sweet they looked. She then gave them free dessert. After dinner Finn suggested that they take a walk up the street. It wasn’t too cold out and some of the shops were still open, so it was nice to just walk through town.

Once they meandered back to the car, Finn drove them home. Amanda was watching a show on Netflix relaxing on the couch. “Hey guys. Did you enjoy dinner?”

“It was delicious,” Santana gushed. “We went to the Greek place outside of town.”

“I heard they had good baklava.”

“Oh yeah,”

“How was Charlotte?” Finn asked, starting to head to his daughters room.

“She was fine. We ate some pizza, watched some sesame street, took a bath, and read a book. She was out like a light,” Amanda reported. Finn had to go check just to make sure.

“Hey, we wanted to run something by you,” Santana said to Amanda.

“Sure, what’s up?”

“We need to have a date night. At least once a month and we were wondering if you would mind babysitting?”

“I’m sure I can,” Amanda shrugged. “I just have to double check my calendar.”

“Oh course,” Santana agreed. “This is so awesome. We had so much fun tonight, and we just need to spend some one-on-one time together.”

“I totally get it.”

**0o0o0o0o0o**


	38. Chapter 38

**Chapter 38: Theme Park**

March – age 19, Charlotte age 3

Spring Semester, Freshman Year

Spring break fell on the week of Charlotte’s birthday this year. She was now three years old. Finn had a little party at the house in Lima. All of their friends who were in town came. Kurt and Dave flew back from NYU and FIT, Mercedes was back from UCLA. Puck drove in from UWV with Lauren. Sam was still in town because he was finishing out his senior year. Artie flew in from MIT and Brittany from the Alvin Alley School of Dance. Mike and Tina were back from Stanford, and Matt came in from U of O. The gang was all there. So while they were celebrating Charlotte’s birthday, it also gave them all the chance to catch up.

Mike was a knesthesiology/dance major. This appeased himself and his passions, as well as his family’s expectations of going on to medical school. His parents also got him a single dorm, under the pretense that it would keep him more focused on his studies. Little did they know that Tina stayed there most nights because she had the roommate from hell. Tina lived in a double with Audrey Woods. She was an undeclared major and all she did was stay in their room and eat. It was a wonder they didn’t have rats with how messy she was. Tina was a theater major, costume design. She had been so involved with getting their glee costumes together, and was pretty darn good at it, if she did say so herself. Tina was minoring in conservation biology, since she loved animals, and a good fallback job would always be to work in a zoo.

Matt was playing football for the University of Ohio. He was playing second string right now, but he dream position was help by a senior. He was confident he could start next year. He was in their physical therapy program. He could play football for four years and then continue to get his doctorate for the next three years. He knew he would need to have a career to come out of college with. He would enjoy his time playing and the scholarship it got him to complete his goals.

Artie was at MIT for their mechanical engineering program. Things were going well. He had handicap accommodations so his double was huge. His roommate worshiped the ground he rolled on. Artie was an enigma. He was super nerdy, but went to the skate park to let off steam. He could rap and sing with soul. He also had a hot girlfriend who was in a prestigious dance school. They would skype a few nights a week and text the rest of the time. She surprised him on fall break by flying up to him. Then he became a god. She may have played it up a little bit by wearing clothes that showed off all of her best assets. Britt was in her element at the dance school. They were all super competitive and cut throat; but that was just like being on the Cheerios again.

Sam was finishing up his senior year. He was still the quarterback. He pretty much ruled the school. Glee club was still around but it just wasn’t the same. Sam mentored many of the football players on how they survived and how they needed to act as seniors. This made Sam be on the fast track for MVP and most improved award.

Lauren got a scholarship to wrestle at WVU. She was going to be their first female champion. She was studying computer science. That major was too easy bit it gave her credibility to her mad computer skills. She decided that Puck was worth taking with her to college. Puck was a super whiz at math so he signed up for classes so he could get his MBA and CPA. He was really excelling in his classes. He did have to beat girls off with a stick. He went to the first wrestling match to support Lauren. She won. It was a tradition for girlfriends to come down and kiss their winner. Lauren told Puck he was available to do the same. Puck laid a good one on her, coping a feel of her ass in that uniform. The girls there were rather disgusted but Puck finally knew what he wanted in life and he was happy the girls got the message he was with Lauren.

Mercedes was majoring in finance and minoring in both vocal performance and fashion design. Things were going well. She was still in touch with Sam. They talked about dating and thought they could handle the long distance thing. He has secretly gotten into UCLA and got a football scholarship and the rest was covered by a dyslexic athlete scholarship. She could freak out when she went to his graduation and found out.

Dave had gone to NYU to be closer to Kurt but also because they had a good MBA program. He was also minoring in creative writing. This was a secret passion of his, unbeknownst to most – except to Kurt. He didn’t get a scholarship for football so he wasn’t obligated to play, which was nice. He was also learning Chinese. It was difficult but he believed that it would pay dividens later.

Kurt was at FIT. He was actually learning the basics of fashion design. He already had a portfolio of clothes that he designed, and co-designed with Tina and Mercedes. He and Dave found an apartment off campus that was technically FIT property. They both lived there even though it was only in Kurt’s name. Kurt’s present to Charlotte was a new line of childrens rompers he had made.

Charlotte passed out after her party, so Finn and Santana hung out with their friends in the backyard around the bon fire. “So how’s it really in New York? Matt asked the male couple.

“It’s not as bad as I thought,” Dave admitted. “It’s crazy busy but you just need to know the best times to get places.”

“It’s fabulous,” Kurt raved. “We don’t have to hide any more. I can walk down the street and hold Dave’s hand and not get my ass kicked.”

“That’s good man,” Puck agreed. “I had to threaten a few people to shove their heads up their asses for that.”

“”I quite appreciate that Puck,” Kurt replied. “I wanna know what went down at that wrestling match; they put yours and Lauren’s kiss all over YouTube.”

“Well, the guys are allowed to have their girlfriends nearby and even give them a kiss after the match if they win. I asked if Puck could come by. They said sure,” Lauren began. “He has been totally freaked because he is obviously hot and these skinny bitches – no offense girls – have been trying to push up on him. I’ve heard him on several occasions tell them he has a girlfriend. We have lunch together but they just don’t get it. So I am not a huge fan of PDA, but I figured I could help him out.”

“Yo, she won and then let me kiss the hell out of her,” Puck chimed in. “And she let me touch up on that sexy ass of hers in that uniform.”

“Now the girls don’t really try Just a few transfer girls this semester who don’t know any better, but they are schooled real quick,” Lauren shrugged.

“Hey, Tina had to do the same to the Asian community at Stanford,” Mike said. “I also may have told a few guys to spread the word that Tina is very much taken.”

“All I have to do is say I have a kid, and it makes me unattractive to college girls,” Finn joked. “And Tana can truly take care of herself. I heard a rumor of a guy being threatened with a razor blade for grabbing a Latina girls’ butt.”

“To be fair he caught me on a bad day,” Santana groused. “I didn’t even have a razor. They are too dangerous around Char.”

“Good,” Britt said. “We want nothing to hurt out little girl.”

“Alright, they think I’m a god at MIT,” Artie bragged. “I’m crazy smart, sing like I’m black, and have a hot girlfriend.”

“His friend totally drooled when I flew up,” Britt confirmed. “Sometimes I wear really tight pants and low cut shirts to make them more jealous.”

“And I pretty much sexile my roommate the days she comes up,” Artie said, not caring.

“And it’s a wonder why you were underrated in high school,” Santana commented with a smile.

“How’s UCLA Mercy?” Britt asked. It took a minute for her to respond because she was sitting on Sam’s lap, exploring his mouth with her tongue. “Mercy?”

“Mmm, sorry,” Mercy said as she broke her kiss with Sam. “What was the question?”

“Tell them about UCLA babe,” Sam prompted, rubbing his hand on her thigh.

“Yeah, it’s great. Lots of sunshine,” she began. “I’m really busy with my classes, so I don’t do too much around campus. But I do try to go to open mic night.”

“Cool,” Finn said. “We should find one for date night soon.”

“Yeah, I need to sing adult songs,” Santana agreed. “All I sing now are kid songs with Char.”

“But because of that she is practically bilingual,” Finn interjected. “I keep taking Spanish classes and Santana speaks it pretty fluently, so we try to teach her both.”

“Pretty awesome,” Lauren agreed.

“And one day, Uncle Dave will teach her Chinese,” Kurt said.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Matt ended up leaving early for a day with his Dad. The others stuck around and made out around the dying fire. Burt and Carol planned for this eventuality. They got sleeping bags from parents and zipped two together. Finn and Santana headed up to bed well after midnight. Kurt and Dave went down to his room. Puck and Lauren took their sleeping bag down there as well. Burt and Carol moved the living room furniture out of the way for the other three couples. It was a good thing they all went to school together and were very comfortable together. This ended up not the innocent sleep overs of yester year. Both couples in the basement ended up fooling around quite a bit. Artie and Britt had the lazy boy and that afforded them a little more privacy but even the other two couple fooled around until everyone passed out.

Carol was up early and made pancakes for the whole group. Charlotte was sent after the teens to wake them up. They grumbled at first but couldn’t be too angry at a three year old in a giraffe hoodie. At some point during the evening, Mercedes lost her shirt and gained Sam’s tank top. Sam just wore bottoms, no shame. Char did ask Sam and adorable question.

“Why is yous lumpy?” she asked, pointing to his abs.

“Those are muscles,”Sam explained. “And I work very hard to keep them lumpy. And Mercy likes me lumpy.” Said reference blushed.

“You kids had a fun night?” Burk asked. There were affirmative noises made around mouths full of pancakes. “Good, and thanks for taking care of the fire.”

“No problem, Burt,” Finn replied. It was definitely good to be home.


	39. Chapter 39

**Chapter 39**

**April – Age 19 – Freshman Year – Spring**

Their semester was winding down and things were getting easier. Santana had no more papers for Psychology and Sociology, just a final left. She thought her Microbiology class was too easy, and she thought the lab was a joke. Her two nursing classes weren’t tough per say, but just a lot of information. Finn’s classes were going strong. He was acing his Spanish class. Statistics was his hardest subject, but Santana was trying to help him when she could. The rest of his classes he really enjoyed and put in the work. There were a lot of papers, but he only had 3 left and two of them counted as his final exams.

This little lull in their semester meant they could take a Saturday off from school and go to the amusement park. Charlotte was so excited. Her first job was to pick up some snacks to pack in Santana’s book bag for the park. Santana printed the tickets she bought for half price online. Finn got sunblock, bug spray, and a basic assortment of medicines ready. They were on the road by 9 and got to the park early.

With sunblock on and ready to go, the trio hit the ground running. They tried to get on all the rides that Charlotte wanted, and some she was even tall enough to ride a regular ride with one of them. They went on three little roller coasters, teacups, bumper cars, and saw a street parade. They headed back to the car to have their lunch, which Santana dutifully packed as to not pay amusement park prices for lunch. But they did get a little something sweet from the vendor, a large churro to share, and a treat. After lunch, they went on the swings, a pirate ship, saw a magic show and went on the hymmalayah, a log flume, and an airplane ride.

Charlotte was beaming the whole day. She was so excited to do all these cool new activities, and all the new experiences were just simply amazing. Finn and Santana took turns riding the rides with her, and taking pictures and holding the bags. This trip was such a success, that Finn had plans to come back here during the summer, and maybe even for her birthday. With the half-price tickets that Santana found, which he was super excited about, were well worth the expense for the amount of fun they had for the day.

As the sun started to set, Charlotte was walking more and more like a zombie. She was starting to fall asleep walking. Finn picked her up and cradled her to his chest as they walked out to the car. She continued to sleep as they buckled her in the back seat of the SUV. Santana wasn’t feeling too awake at this point either, but she was muscling through until they got home and got everything settled for the night.

“I can’t believe she is still sleeping,” Finn commented as he carried his sleeping daughter through their front door.

“She had a long and very exciting day,” Santana replied. “I completely understand. I am exhausted too.”

“Same, our bed never looked so good right now,” Finn joked. “I will put her in bed, can you lock up?”

“Sure,” Santana said. “I know it’s going to make me sound like an old lady, but I just want to go to bed, and it’s not even ten yet.”

“I’m right there with ya,” Finn agreed.


	40. Chapter 40

**Chapter 40**

**May – Age 19 – Freshman/Sophomore Year**

“Hey, did our grades come in yet?” Santana asked as she was getting dinner together. They had taken their last final on Monday. Now here they were on Friday.

“I’ll check after dinner,” Finn said. He was way more relaxed about his grades. Finn was just so grateful that he had a college schedule. He wasn’t going to be a dead beat Dad. All of a sudden his cellphone rang. “Hello?”

“Hey Finn, its John.”

“What’s up John?”

“Didn’t you tell me you’ve worked on cars before?”

“Uh, yeah, my step dad is a mechanic.”

“My car is sounding all kinds of angry,” John explained. “Could you come look at it?”

“We, it’s getting dark, but I could come by your dorm first thing tomorrow.”

“Sure, I’d have no ride home otherwise.”

“I can’t guarantee that I can fix it, but I’ll do what I can.” Finn replied. “I can do repairs that aren’t too intensive. I just don’t have the equipment.”

“That’s fine,” John said. “I just don’t know any shops around here.”

“Alright, I’ll come by around 9?”

“Sounds good.”

“Okay, bye.”

“Bye.”

“John’s car still acting up?” Santana asked as she stirred the pasta.

“How do you know about the car?”

“He was complaining in class the other day,” she replied.

“Yeah, that won’t be bad if I go tomorrow right?” Finn asked. “I know we are headed to Lima tomorrow, but I should be done by lunch time.”

“It shouldn’t be a problem. Call your mom and let them know we are going to be there for dinner instead.”

“Alright,” Finn said. He went to go check on Charlotte, who was coloring at her play desk. He took his phone back out and dialed Burt.

“Hey kid, what’s up?”

“Hey Burt, I’m calling to change tomorrow’s plans a bit slightly. A friend called and needs me to try to fix his car. So we’ll be at the house for dinner instead of lunch.”

“No worries,” Burt assured him. “Do you know what’s wrong?”

“Sounds like loose spark plugs or a loose belt.”

“Shouldn’t be too hard to fix then,” Burt reasoned.

“I’m hoping not,” Finn agreed. “But definitely count us out for lunch.”

“Good luck, just let us know when you’re on your way.”

“No problem.” They said their goodbyes and Finn went out to set the table. “We’re all good for tomorrow.”

“Good,” Santana said as she poured the hot pasta water in the strainer. “Go get Charlotte washed up, I’m gonna mix the sauce.”

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Finn went to John’s dorm early the next morning and was able to fix the car fairly easily. A belt and a few sparkplugs were loose. Finn was done in under an hour. Santana finished packing before they got out after lunch. They were going to Burt and Carol’s for a week, but Tuesday and Wednesday they were going to the beach and Charlotte would be staying. It would be Finn’s third time away from her. They went to Nationals twice, first in New York, second in Chicago. Charlotte was looking forward to being with her Nana and Poppop. But he hoped it would go better than last year. She cried and clung to him as he left for nationals. Finn got a room for two nights at the beach so they could get away and relax. Burt too off for the three days they would be gone to spend time with his girl.

Finn and Santana were excited to get their few child free days in. They headed to the beach, laid around a while, played some Frisbee, and frolic’d in the water. The trip was about getting some rest and relaxation. They needed a few days away from school and even Charlotte. They had been bickering lately over still things regarding Charlotte. But now they were able to clear their heads a little bit.

Finn practically had to beat some guys off with a stick because Santana was too hot. She still had the Cheerio body, and wanted to torment him by wearing impossibly small bikinis. They were both lying on their beach chairs and Santana rolled over. “Can you put more sunblock on my back?”

“Give me a minute,” Finn groaned, stretching.

“If he won’t help, then we will,” said a young man of indeterminate age, and his friend laughed.

“Me or you?” Finn asked, looking at both boys.

“My turn,” she groaned. Santana pushed herself up to look at the two boys. “Really?”

“We’d be better for you that that doofus over there,” the boy said.

“You’d be better than my husband” she questioned.

“You’re married to that?”

“I have beautiful child with that wonderful man,” she piped up. “Do you two best be getting away.”

“Damn,” They muttered together. They walked away with their tails between their legs.


	41. Chapter 41

**Chapter 41**

**Slip and Slide Fun**

**June – Age 19 – Summer Freshman/Sophomore Year**

Their summer was turning out rather well thus far. Their beach vacation was just what they needed. Santana’s courses were four weeks down, and two more to go. The courses were in her words, invigorating. She was taking Developmental Biology, her second health care nursing course, and nursing to the terminally ill. Finn was enjoying his home time with Charlotte. They had gotten a small collapsible pool and a slip and slide for her to have fun with for the summer. He had three more weeks of fun before his summer session hit, one he was quite looking forward to: child psychology, social policy, and psychology of gender.

Finn has a list of household projects he wished to finish during the home time. He was able to move the furniture around in their bedroom so they would have some more floor space. They were quite sick of stubbing their toes trying to skirt around the bed to get to the bathroom. He fixed the shelves in the kitchen cabinets. The supports were old and breaking. He got all the appropriate supports and shelves in and decluttered the counters. Finn fixed up the rickety leg on the kitchen table. He changed the oil in both their cars.

Charlotte had grown quite a bit and her toddler bed was no longer adequate. She needed a full sized bed. What he did was take two pool noodles and put them under the fitted sheets so she wouldn’t roll off. There were many a morning that he or Santana saw her sleeping on her floor in a tangled mess of sheets. She was a violent sleeper – yet another reason they never let her sleep with them. They let her once and they woke up with bruises all over. She kicked all night long.

Finn set up the pool in the back yard. Charlotte enjoyed learning to swim. On the weekends, they would break out the slip n slide. All 3 of them would be exhausted and muddy by the end of their time. Finn would add a bit of dish soap to their slide and it would go much more smoothly. Finn would shower first so he could bathe Charlotte and Santana could indulge in a long shower.

Santana got up and was served breakfast. They she would pack her lunch and head on her way. Finn and Charlotte would cook dinner together. She was quite the eager little chef. Charlotte was getting much better at identifying ingredients. They would work on letters, numbers, colors, fruits, vegetables, and different foods, in both Spanish and English. Finn was very proud of his smart girl

Finn was happy to have his time at home, but that didn’t mean that he didn’t miss the school aspect of his life. Never would he have thought that he would miss school. But now if he wasn’t working or at school, he had free time - and that wasn’t something that he was knowledgeable about. His life was revolving around work or school or Charlotte. But this was a nice little break, and something that he would look forward to in the future.


	42. Chapter 42

**Chapter 42 – Fireworks Time**

**July – Age 19 – Summer 2 Freshman/Sophomore**

Susan and George were helping bring the food out back. They were in attendance to the Fourth of July barbeque hosted by Finn and Santana. George had brought a few bottles of soda and solo cups. Susan made macaroni salad and potato salad. They were waiting for John and Amanda to show up. Amanda bought the ingredient to make a few dips, but would be finishing them at the house. She was a fairly regular fixture around their house, especially after what had happened in May

**FLASHBACK**

_It was around 9 pm when there was a frantic knock on their front door. Finn looked confused by jumped up and looked out of the peep hole. Amanda was practically beating down their door. He opened the door immediately and ushered her inside. “Panda, what’s wrong?” She couldn’t even answer she was shaking so hard._

_“Amanda?” Santana asked. Finn wrapped her in his arms and got her over to the couch. “Tell us what’s wrong? How can we help you?”_

_“M-m-my boyfriend!” she spat angrily. “He attacked me!”_

_“Attacked you?” Santana asked. “He beat you up?”_

_‘He was trying to...” Amanda began to falter her words. But she got out in a whisper, “rape me.”_

_“Finn, call the police,” Santana said firmly. “Amanda, come with me.” Santana led Amanda to their bedroom but only got to the doorway when there was more knocking._

_“Come out here bitch!” a male voice shouted._

_“That’s Jeff,” Amanda whispered, terrified._

_“San, call the cops, and lock yourselves in Charlotte’s room,” Finn commanded. He grabbed the handle from his car jack and approached the door, he was very grateful he forgot to put it back out in the shed. Santana nodded._

_“Be careful.”_

_“Go now,” Finn urged._

_“I know you went crawling to your friends, you whore!” Jeff yelled._

_“You need to leave my house!” Finn yelled back._

_“Give me the bitch and I’ll leave!”_

_“Never gonna happen! We’ve called the cops. Leave now!”_

_“Maybe I’ll just break down the door and fuck your bitch too!” Finn threw open the door and towered over the would-be rapist._

_“You come here, after nearly raping my best friend, and threaten my family,” Finn growled, grabbing him up by the shirt collar. “Tell me why I shouldn’t beat you bloody right here, right now?” The guy could only make whimpering sounds. “If your noise had woken my daughter, you will pay double.”_

_The cops arrived in short order, having been patrolling the area already. “Sir, let the man go.”_

_“He tried to rape my best friend, and then he tried to break into my house to get to her, as well as threaten my family.”_

_“A woman made the call,” the officer said._

_“My girlfriend took my friend and locked themselves in my daughter’s bedroom and called you guys,” Finn replied. “Can you take this miscreant so I can check on my family?”_

_“Yes,” the officer said. “Go check on your girls.”_

_Finn ran in and knocked on Charlotte’s door softly. “It’s Finn, the cops have him,” he said through the crack in the door. Santana threw open the door and leapt into his arms. Then she stood back to check him over for any injury._

_“Are you okay?” she finally asked._

_“Yeah,” Finn nodded. “I nearly lost it when he threatened you two.”_

_“He didn’t hurt you?”_

_“I didn’t realize how little he is, he couldn’t hurt me.”_

_“I’m glad,” Santana sighed in relief._

_“How’s Char and Panda?”_

_“Charlotte just woke up but she is helping Amanda,” Santana replied. Amanda had Charlotte in her arms, rocking her back and forth._

_“Panda, the cops have him,” Finn explained softly. She looked up, tear running down her ace. “They are going to want to talk to each of us.” She nodded._

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

The party was in full swing as it was getting dark. The adults took advantage of the slip n slide. They all brought extra clothes and John even had fireworks they could shoot off after it got dark.

They thought Finn was the most responsible one the lot that wanted to shoot off the fireworks. So he set it up at the furthest corner of the back ward to keep everyone safe. They set off a few at first, and Charlotte was excited, clapping her hands. But all of a sudden, there was a yell. Finn fell back on his butt.

“Finn, what the hell did you do?” Santana half chuckled and walked over to check on her boyfriend.

“I burned myself,” Finn groaned.

“Where are you burnt?” she asked a bit more seriously.

“My forearm,” he said. “I lit it and dropped it in the tube but it burned me.”

“Come in, I’ll get the first aid kit,” Santana said. “John can finish the fireworks.” She knew she should be upset with him for being foolish, but she was secretly pleased she got to play nurse.


	43. Chapter 43

**Chapter 43: Advising**

**August – Age 19 – Sophomore Year**

“Hi, Mr. Hudson, come on in and take a seat,” Ms. Pershing greeted. She was his advisor in the social work program. “Let’s look at how you’ve done at the first year. I see you’ve taken winter as well as summer classes.”

“Yes, I’m trying to make the most of my time here,” Finn replied.

“And you’ve done well,” she commented. “Only one B so far.”

“Stats kicked my butt,” Finn commented lightly.

“Tricky class indeed,” Ms. Pershing agreed. “Do you have a class schedule for the fall?”

“Yeah,” Finn said. “Advanced Spanish 1, Human behavior in social environment 1, adolescent development, topics in social work, and sociology of adolescence transition into adulthood.”

“That’s quite a course load,” she said. “Are you going to do morning or evening sessions.”

“Evening sessions,” Finn replied. “My girlfriend has mornings so one of us can be there for our daughter.”

“We do offer child care services,” Ms. Pershing informed him. When she found the literature in the desk, she gave it to him. “How old is your daughter?”

“She’s three and a half.”

“We do offer preschool classes as well,” she said. “Once she turns four.”

“We were hoping to maybe try day-care in the spring.”

“If you want to try, all you have to do is go register her and anyone authorized to pick her up needs to go register as well.”

“I’ll definitely have to talk this over with my girlfriend,” Finn agreed.

“You seem to be taking on a heavy course load,” She commented. “Is that going alright?”

“It was rough figuring things out last fall,” Finn began. “We each had a mini breakdown. But it’s been working well. We’ve been getting good grades. We are just trying to get all done that we can so we can start our careers, and raise Charlotte with everything needed.”

“You sound like quite a determined young man,” Ms. Pershing said. “I don’t see many cases like you go through my office. I find myself wanting to help you get through. By the looks of it, you can graduate spring after next if you keep up your summer and winter courses. Also, I’ll help arrange your field studies.”

“That would be awesome,” Finn said. I’ll have Santana ask her mentor about how her classes are going.”

“Who does she have?”

“Mr. Wronkowski,” Finn said. “She meets with him tomorrow.”

“I’ll give him a call then and we’ll see what we can gather.”

“I appreciate you meeting with me, Ms. Pershing,” Finn said, asking her hands. “Thank you.”

“No problem, Mr. Hudson,” she replied, returning the handshake. “If you need anything, don’t hesitate to e-mail me or drop by during office hours.”

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o**

“Ms. Lopez, come on in,” Mr. Wronkowski announced. “How are you?”

“I’m doing alright,” she replied, entering his office and taking a seat next to his desk.

“Do you have a class list worked up?”

“I do,” she pulled out her schedule she wanted, with the registration numbers. “Biochemistry, pathopharmacology 1, physics 2, organic chemistry 2, and nursing agency 2.”

“You really like difficult semesters,” he chuckled. “I’m just trying to get through everything so I can start my career.”

“I was hoping you would say that,” he noted. “I got a phone call from Ms. Pershing last night. She is the mentor of Finn Hudson.”

“Yeah, that’s my boyfriend.”

“Well, we’ve taken a special interest in you two” Mr. Wronkowski commented. “How old is his daughter?”

“Charlotte is three and a half.”

“A cute age,” he said. “Do you have a picture?” Santana smiled and pulled up the family picture that Amanda had taken a few weeks ago. “She is adorable.”

“Thank you,” she replied.

“Finn can graduate spring after next,” he said. “That’s my goal for you.”

“How?”

“I’ll be able to get you placements that we use for single parents, and keep you on track. Your classes are going to be crazy hard. Are you up for it?”

“You have no idea.”


	44. Chapter 44

**Chapter 44 Reflections**

**September – Age 20 – Fall Sophomore year**

**FLASHBACK**

_“Hey Mom, what’s up?” Finn greeted as he answered his phone._

_“Honey, where are you?” Carol asked, clearly upset by the tone of her voice._

_“I’m home,” he replied warily, a million different situations running wildly through his head. “What’s wrong?” Santana came over to sit by him on the couch._

_“Oh sweetheart, I’m at the hospital,” Carol began, he could practically hear the tears falling down her face. “Burt had a heart attack.” Finn dropped the phone out of shock. He couldn’t move. Santana picked up the phone, not sure how to handle what she wasn’t sure was actually going on._

_“Carol, what’s going on? Finn dropped the phone,” Santana asked, quite frantic in her own right._

_“Burt had a heart attack at work today,” Carol said. Santana felt all her breath leave and tears came to her eyes. “He just keeled over after an oil change. Bill called 911 as soon as it happened, and the ambulance was headed back to the station when they got the call, so they were able to get there quicker.”_

_“How bad is it?” Santana’s mind was racing with all the possibilities of what the effects could be. Her class lectures were flying by her minds’ eye._

_“He’s in a recovery room, the echo showed some damage but non-life threatening,” she explained. “Protein levels indicate a mild heart attack. He was very lucky.”_

_“Thank God” she sighed. “Does Kurt know?”_

_“He and Dave are flying in tonight,” Carol replied._

_“We’re going to be there tonight. I’m going to e-mail our professors and going to pack for a long weekend,” Santana said firmly._

_“I’ll go put the light on for you guys,” Carol replied. “I have to go home to pack an overnight bag.”_

_“We’ll see you in a few hours.”_

**END FLASHBACK**

That had been two weeks ago. Finn and Santana had stayed in Lima that weekend. Burt woke up Friday morning and was moved to a regular room. Finn cried himself to sleep every night. Santana wasn’t doing much better. Burt had been her parental rock since her parents pretty much dropped her. But Burt was able to convince them to go back to classes for Monday. Kurt and Dave were sent on their way as well. They had really drawn comfort from each other. Charlotte waned to sleep in Nana’s bed to keep her company, so all four teenagers piled on to the California king mattress down in Kurt’s basement room. Santana and Kurt snuggled into each other with Dave and Finn spooning from the outside. It was a harsh reality check for the four teenagers since they hadn’t really known anyone who could have died like this. Kurt was hit particularly hard because his mother had already died when he was only six years old, from cancer. He wasn’t prepared to lose his only blood parent yet.

Burt was now recovering at home. He wasn’t allowed to go back to work for a month, and even then he wasn’t allowed to do big projects for at least 6 months. He really wasn’t super thrilled about not working, but he knew it was necessary to get better. He was trying to be a good patient for Carol, but he was still stubborn and that wasn’t really going to change any time soon. Carol had a difficult time being a wife as well as a nurse at home, so much so that she threatened to get a home health aide to come and invade his privacy if he didn’t let her help him out. He conceded because he wasn’t about to let a stranger come up in his business.

Finn was on the verge of a breakdown before he saw a school therapist. Ms. Pillsbury was the one who made him make an appointment. He was spiraling and Santana wasn’t much better. It was much needed thing. Finn and Santana both had appointments with the therapist, and had one session a week together. Charlotte started for a few hours at the day care. Finn really wasn’t ready but he knew she would have to go to school one day, so this few hours was a nice start. He needed to deal with his step father leaving him like his father did, even though Finn never really knew Christopher. He was very use to having a father figure back in his life that this was a very real shock that life was fragile and that could be gone at any minute.

The therapy was just what they needed, as individuals and couples. Santana got all the feelings about her parent’s abandonment and her new family and Burt’s health scare. And although she loved it, being essentially Charlotte’s mother was draining. Finn was able to vent about the Quinn business and Burt and even jumping into living with Santana. Their catharsis had begun. They had their separate sessions two different days a week, and every other week they had a joint session where they learned effective communication skills, and how to handle situations like this again if it came up. Their therapist, Helen Hileaha, was a wonderful woman who was empathetic and gave them their own homework to work on in between sessions. They really had to think through their feelings and truly be able to communicate these with each other. Their healing was on the way, and they were gaining a whole new set of skills.


	45. Chapter 45

**Chapter 45**

**2 years Mommy!**

**October – Sophomore Year – Age 20 – Fall**

Finn got back to their little home around 5:30 Friday. He had therapy every Friday after his advanced Spanish class. But this particular Friday, he drove out to the grocery store and picked up a small bouquet of flowers. He sent off a text reminder to Amanda to meet at the house by 7:30. He was surprising Santana with a night out of dinner and dancing. It was their official two year anniversary and Finn couldn’t be happier. He was surprised when Santana still would come to therapy with him and still went by herself. Things were going swimmingly.

“Honey, I’m home!” he announced as he walked in through the front door. Charlotte was lying on the floor, watching TV and Santana was lying next to her, a text book on the floor in front of her. Finn drank in the sight of his luscious girlfriend. She was only waring a BGSU –shirt and comfortable yoga pants.

“Hey, bad traffic?” she joked at his delayed arrival. She got up from her study nest and walked over to him.

“I made a pit stop,” he admitted, pulling the flowers from behind his back “Happy Anniversary!”

“Oh Finn, they’re gorgeous!” she gushed before getting up on her toes to hug him. He hugged her tightly to him and leaned down to kiss her. “Mmm.”

“Amanda is babysitting tonight,” Finn said as he broke the kiss and rest his forehead against hers.

“Yeah?” Santana asked. “And why would she need to babysit?”

“Because I’m taking you out to dinner and dancing,” Finn said proudly.

“Fancy.”

“Well, it is officially our two year anniversary,” he reminded her. “So you need to go get ready. We have 8 PM reservations.”

“Alright, I’ll get myself all pretty for you,” she said cheekily.

  
“You’re always pretty,” he called after her as she walked back to their bedroom. Finn chuckled as she strutted out of view. “Hey Char.”

“Daddy!” she squealed, leaving her TV show and running to hug Finn’s leg.

“How are you sweetie?”

“I good Daddy,” she replied. “Petty Fwowers.”

“They are, aren’t they? Why don’t you help me get a vase and put some water in it,” Finn offered. She nodded enthusiastically. They got a vase from under the sink, and put it in the basin. Finn picked her up and put her on the counter. “You need to make sure the faucet is over the vase.” Charlotte moved the faucet into the correct position. “Now we need to fill it up to right about here.” Finn held his fingers about a third of the way from the bottom. She carefully turned on the cold water and filled up the vase to Finn’s fingers. “Now we have to cut the plastic off the flowers, oh hey, they gave us plant food and some directions. ‘Cut steps one inch before putting them in water’.”

Finn got some scissors and they cut off one inch of all the stems. They poured in the plant food and Finn let Charlotte arrange the flowers. “Great job sweetie. Thanks for helping me.”

“No Pwobwem Daddy,” Charlotte smiled. It made him so happy that Charlotte was such an awesome kid.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o**

They had a blast on their date. They went to the same Greek place for their dinner. Their favorite hostess was there and all smiles when she saw them. They got to dance a bit when the music got turned up. Finn found out that they only turned up the music when they were there. Since they were underage, they couldn’t go to the regular clubs, but they did try out one of the local underage clubs.

Santana tried to enjoy the dancing but somehow she felt too old. Maybe because they had Charlotte, but it was certainly amusing to see all the fake girls and all their ‘horrible’ drama. They managed a good laugh when they saw a girl crying because her boyfriend had dumped her for not seeing her without make up and didn’t like what he saw. They almost fell over for laughing so hard.

Finn and Santana made it home around one in the morning. Amanda was asleep on the couch. Santana went into check on Charlotte and Finn stood in the door way. She leaned down to kiss her forehead. “Sleep tight, baby girl.”

“Night Mommy,” Charlotte murmured back as she snuggled down further in her blankets. Finn could see Santana visibly freeze. She turned and hurried past Finn and into their bedroom. He allowed her a few minutes as he kissed Charlotte as well before following her. When Finn got in their room, she was already in the closed bathroom, water running. Slightly confused, he walked over and knocked on the door.

“Sweetie, you okay?” He got no answer. “I’m coming in.”

“Finn opened the door and saw a figure huddled in the bottom of the shower, hot water pounding down on her. “San?”

“She called me Mommy,” she murmured.

“I heard her, but she was half-asleep,” Finn tried to reason.

“She doesn’t have a mother, so she dreams about them,” she cried. Finn turned the water off and pulled back the curtain.

“She doesn’t know her birth mother because Quinn wanted nothing to do with her,” Finn said softly. “But she hasn’t grown up without a mother.” Santana looked up at him. “You have helped me raise her. It’s no surprise she sees you as her mom.”

“You’re not mad?”

“Why would I be mad?” Finn asked, confused.

“Because she’s your daughter, and she’s calling me mom.”

“Are you okay with her calling you Mom?”

“I don’t know,” Santana replied. “Part of me loves it because of how much I love that little girl, but the other part thinks she will be confused when she asks why mommy is Puerto Rican and she’s not.”

“I’m sure one day she’ll have questions,” Finn said, getting down to sit on the floor with her. “And I’m sure it will be ha hard conversation, but you’re the only one she knows. I’m sure when she’s older, she will be able to understand it much better.”

“I’m just so torn,” Santana lamented.

“Why don’t we think of it as her calling you Mami?” he suggested. Her head perked up and a small smile graced her face. ”And I think you should come with me this week to counseling.”

“I think I might,” she agreed. “It’s really thrown me for a loop.”

“Personally I think I need to get you warmed up and dry, and into bed with me.”

Santana dried her tears and nodded. “I love you Finn,”

“I love you too, Sweetie,” Finn smiled. He laid a sweet kiss on her lips. He stood up and got a dry towel and got Santana up and dried off. By the time she was dry, Santana felt like Finn was entirely overdressed.   
  



	46. Chapter 46

**Chapter 46 – A Homesgiving Meal**

**November – Sophomore Year – Age 20**

“Mom, we’re here!” Finn yelled as they got to the house the night before Thanksgiving. Carol and Burt were snuggled up on his lazy-boy chair. Finn could tell already that Burt was looking better.

“Welcome home Baby!” Carol greeted. She got up and hugged each of them.

“Hi Nana!” Char cried. The exuberant little girl pounced on Carol. They had drilled her in the car that Burt was still sick so she had to go gentle. So when she let Carol go, Charlotte turned to Burt. “Hi Poppop!”

“I don’t get a hug?” he faux pouted.

“Daddy and Mami said you is sick and I can’t hurt you,” she confessed softly. If the couple was thrown by the Mami comment, they didn’t show it.

“Your Daddy and Mami told you right,” Burt acknowledged, giving the couple a smile. “I have been sick, but if you’re careful, you can climb up here so I can get a Charlotte hug.” She looked back at her parents and they nodded. Carefully she crawled up and pretty much laid on top of Burt to hug him, Santana already had her phone out and took a picture of the sweet scene.

This certainly was a special trip for the couple... their lives had already begun to change. Bert certainly looked weaker than before, but he lit up around Charlotte. While Burt bonded with his girl again, Finn practically picked his mother again. He missed being here to help her. That was their thing. Carol took such good care of him without his Dad, that Finn always did what he could to help her in return. He was practically sobbing on her shoulder. “Shh, you couldn’t have done anything,” she murmured. Santana knew he was struggling to deal with this in therapy. “But I could have helped, worked in the shop,” Finn protested.

“And give up on school?” she admonished. “You are doing exactly what you need to do.”

“But...” Finn tried but Carol cut him off.

“I’m a big girl, I can take care of things,” she teased. Finn sighed and nodded, putting his head back on her shoulder. Santana smiled at this lovely display. With bother parents occupied, she brought hers and Finn’s bags up to their room. It certainly was nice to be back here. She felt safe here, away from the pressure of school.

Once Santana came back downstairs, Burt had Charlotte on him, but Finn was knelt down murmuring to him. Carol was now available to Santana to latch on to. “Hey Lady,” Santana teased.

“Hey, Mami,” Carol teased back.

“Yeah,” Santana sighed. She looked over and saw that Charlotte was passed out. “It started last month.”

“Yeah, she really wigged out,” Finn joked. Burt was smiling as well.

“Well, I was,” Santana agreed. “It’s not every day you check on the gorgeous three year old and she says ‘night mommy’.”

“Well, you’ve really been her mother figure,” Carol pointed out.

“I know, and Finn and I agreed to have her call me Mami instead, more Latin and she’s practically bi-lingual,” Santana explained. “It felt like a better fit and could help when she asks questions down the road.

“Had she asked anything already?”

“No, just keeping an ear out for now.”

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

The dinner was fabulous. They had quite a few people come over. The Puckermans and Zizes came as Puck and Lauren drove home from school. Matt came with his family because he was only at OSU. They were quite a bunch, but that made dinner that much more fun. Puck and Lauren had no more crazy YouTube videos like last year, but Puck did bond with some of the wrestling guys, so they whole teams really was on Lauren’s side over last ear. They were also there to help vet the girls who wanted to date a wrestler. Matt did get his starting position on the football team and his classes were going well. Since he was going to be at the school for seven years, he was eligible to play for five years, so he was excited. He loved playing football and it would definitely help him in PT school. Best part, he could help the athletic trainer the last two years.

All of their other friends were flying in for Christmas and Burt and Carol decided they missed having one last year. They were excited. Everyone was glad to see Burt recovering nicely. After dinner and before the football game, they all went around and said what they were thankful for. It was a nice catharsis and it seemed to make everyone but a bit lighter.

Everyone migrated to the living room to watch the football game but Finn corralled his mom in the kitchen under the pretenses of helping with dinner clean up. “Hey mom”

“Hmm?” Carol replied. “I remember when I was little you said that if I ever felt like asking someone to marry me, I could use your right that Dad gave you,” Finn began quietly. “Does that offer still stand?”

Carol’s head whipped around and stared at Finn. “You want to ask her?”

“Yeah, I’ve been thinking about it,” Finn admitted. “I really can see us having real future together.”

“If you’re sure, the ring is in the back of my jewelry box, in the blue velvet box,” Carol said. Honey, I’m so happy for you.”

“Thanks mom,” Finn said, hugging her.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

It was very early in the morning that Carol and Santana went out black Friday shopping this left Burt and Finn home with Charlotte. They went down to the park in the morning to let Charlotte let off some energy. She happily ran all around the playground and played with a few kids there. Burt assured Finn that he was taking it easy.

“I only go in like three days a week. The other days I do paperwork from home. But I’m going to keep increasing my days until I’m full time by Charlotte’s birthday,” Burt explained.

“Are you sure about that?” Finn asked cautiously.

“I married a nurse,” Burt reminded him. “She is keeping an eye on me. She’s changed my diet.”

“I noticed the fridge was lacking a few things” Finn chuckled.

“It’s not all bad,” Burt insisted. “The turkey bacon is actually good. The sweet potatoes aren’t all that bad, and most of the low fat stuff tastes the same. Except Ranch dressing – that’s the only full fat item in the house at the moment.”

“As long as it keeps you healthy,” Finn said. There were a few minutes of silence. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure kid, what’s up?”

“How’d you know that you wanted to marry Mom?”

“Well, spending time with Carol made me happy again,” Burt replied – if he was shocked by the question, he didn’t show it. “Ever since Elizabeth died, I’ve felt empty inside. She was the love of my early life as I call it. I’d focused so much on raising Kurt on my own that I never really wanted to date. I had gone on a few dates before you invited us over to dinner but it felt different.”

“How?”

“Well, I felt the same kinda spark I’d had when I’d been dating Elizabeth,” Burt continued. “I’d never thought I’d feel that was again.” Finn nodded, looking lost in thought. “Are you thinking of asking Santana to marry you?”

“Mom tell you?” Burt nodded. “Yeah, I got my Mom’s first engagement ring.”

“It was the Mommy thing?”

“That’s what really got me thinking, yes,” Finn admitted. Burt motioned for him to continue. “She was a bit freaked out but I wasn’t. I thought it was a bit odd at first. But then I realized that I couldn’t ask for a better mother for Charlotte. I didn’t want there to not be an us.”

“That certainly sounds like you’re in it for the long haul,” Burt commented.

“You’re not going to tell me I’m too you?”

“You have an almost four year old,” Burt pointed out. “And since I’ve known you, you’ve grown up significantly. I think you should probably wait until you graduate to actually get married, but I see no reason stopping you two from getting engaged.”

“I appreciate that. I honestly didn’t want to get married right away,” Finn admitted. “I think waiting until graduation would be awesome.”

“I’m proud of you kid,” Burt replied.


	47. Chapter 47

**Chapter 47**

**A Very Merry Christmas**

**December – Age 20 – Sophomore Year**

This Christmas was one for the record books. Burt pulled all kinds of strings but he was responsible for what went down Christmas Day. Everyone was home for Christmas. The morning was all about families. Presents were distributed and enjoyed. Burt and Carol got Charlotte a bicycle with training wheels. She was absolutely over the moon about that; she almost forgot about the rest of the presents.

Dinner was an interesting affair to say the least. The Karofsky’s were attending – both families had gotten close due to their sons dating each other. They got along phenomenally. When Santana was helping Charlotte set the table, she thought Carol had handed her two plates too many. “Hey Carol, you gave me too many plates!” she called out.

“Nope, I gave you the correct amount,” Carol replied.

“So who else is coming?”

“I’m sure they’re coming,” Carol replied. Confused as she may feel, Santana quickly returned to setting the table. It was not long after when there was a knock at the door. “Could you get that Santana?”

“Sure,” Santana replied. She went out and answered the door. She totally wasn’t expecting to see her parents on the other side. “Mom? Dad?”

“Hello Santana,” Santiago said, a shy smile on his face.

“What are you guys doing here?” she asked, astonished.

“Burt called us,” he explained. “He strongly suggested that we come to Christmas dinner.”

“Well, come in?” she suggested. They walked into the house. “Let me take your coats.”

“Ahh, you made it!” Burt called out as he crossed the living room.

“Yes, I suppose we did,” Mrs. Lopez replied stiffly.

“Well, come on in, dinner is almost ready,” Burt said, keeping a cheerful tone to his voice. “Can I offer you a drink? Beer, wine?”

“Yes, please,” Santiago replied. He and his wife followed Burt into the kitchen. Santana stood there for a moment before putting the coats in the closet before heading down in the basement to talk to the boys.

“Finn, did you know that Burt invited my parents to dinner?” she asked.

“You’re parents are here?” Finn asked in reply, his eyes widening.

“Well, there’s my answer,” Santana said. She walked over and plopped herself in Finn’s lap. “They said Burt strongly suggested that they come to Christmas dinner.”

“Well, I know he felt bad that you kinda lost your parents cold turkey,” Kurt said. He was currently lying back on Dave, who was propped up against the headboard.

“Yeah, it sucked, but you’re my new family,” she shrugged. “I have new parents, two new brothers, and a wonderful boyfriend, and a beautiful daughter.”

“That should be fun,” Dave chuckled. “When your parents hear her call you Mami.”

“Oh, don’t remind me,” Santana groaned. “They hate me enough, but I’ll cut someone if they upset her.”

“Alright, dinner’s ready!” Paula Karofsky called down the stairs. The teens groaned and reluctantly went upstairs to face the music. Thankfully the Lopez family was seated between Burt and Mr. Karofsky. All the teens were at one end of the spectrum. Charlotte decided she wanted to sit between her Uncle Kurt and Uncle Dave. The dinner was rather enjoyable; the parents were swapping college stories with the young adults. Santiago had a few polite comments but his wife was noticeably silent. No one said boo about it either. They already finished dinner and were in the living room watching “A Christmas Story” while they digested enough for dessert. This was when Finn decided to make his move. Santana got up to get a glass of water. “Hey San, help me up,” Finn cajoled.

“What do you want? I’ll just get it,” she chuckled.

“Humor me,” he teased. She grabbed him by both hands and pulled. Finn slid out of his seat and ono one knee in front of her, still holding her hands.

“What are you doing goofball?” she giggled.

“I would like to ask you something, but I need a little help,” Finn said. He motioned for Charlotte to come over. Santana noticed that she was holding a small box.

“Daddy wants me to ask you to marry him,” Charlotte announced, opening the box to show a super sparkly, refurbished ring.

“Oh my goodness,” Santana gasped, her hand coming up to her mouth. “Yes, Of course I’ll marry you!”

“Yay!” Charlotte cheered.

“You have got to be kidding me!” Mrs. Lopez shouted abruptly. “This cannot be happening!”

Santana turned around and looked shocked. “What the hell?!”

“I’ve tried to overlook the fact that you’ve been dating that.... that boy! But now you’re going to marry him? I thought you were a lot smarter than that!”

“Smarter than that?” Santana asked incredulously.

“You are tying yourself to a teenage father and his... his brat? You are not the daughter I raised.”

“All because I didn’t marry an older sugar daddy like you wish you had?!” Santana felt very angry and tears were beginning to come to her eyes.

“How dare you!”

“No, how dare you!” Santana yelled, tears now starting to flow down her face. “You come here, at Burt’s invitation and eat our food. And now you ruin a perfect marriage proposal, shame on you.”

Mrs. Lopez was gearing up for another verbal diatribe when she was interrupted by a very irate three year old.

“You made my Mami cry! You are not very nice!” she yelled. The Lopez matriarch was thrown by this statement and collapsed back on the couch. Charlotte then went to hug Santana’s legs. “It’s okay Mami.”

“I love you so much sweetheart,” Santana sobbed, dropping down to hug the little girl.

“And I can’t believe you agreed to marry me,” Finn said, plucking the ring from the box and slipping it on her left ring finger. He also leaned into a kiss.

“I think it’s time for you two to leave,” Burt turned to the Lopez couple.

“You invited us here,” she pointed out.

“I’m responsible, yes; I believed we could get past all of this petty nonsense, but I guess I was wrong,” Burt sighed. “But only those happy about this development, get to stay and celebrate with us.” The Lopez’s nodded and got up, got their coats, and left without a word. “Finn, Santana, I am so sorry that this happened, but I am so happy for you two as well.”

“Thanks Burt,” Finn replied.

“It’s not your fault,” Santana said, wiping tears from her eyes. She walked over and wrapped Burt in a big hug. “They weren’t always the best parents, so I’m happy I’ve found some new ones.”

“And we’re going to keep you forever,” Burt murmured.


	48. Chapter 48

**Chapter 48**

**A Brand New Year**

**January – Age 20 – Sophomore**

Finn and Santana decided to spend New Year’s at their house with a few of their friends over. Burt insisted that they keep Charlotte for a few days. It was always odd when he wasn’t taking care of Charlotte, but always nice to feel like he could act like and feel like his peers. Be his 20 year old self and have a college party – albeit a small one. Amanda was there as well as John, George stopped by with his girlfriend Hilary. Susan also came by with her girlfriend Abby.

Susan was the supplier of liquor and everyone agreed that there would be no driving, so Finn could relax a bit. Abby was a great mixologist. They were all sitting around the living room, Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rocking Eve playing in the background when Amanda spotted the ring on Santana’s left ring finger.

“Finn, did you pop the question?” she practically shrieked. Finn’s cheeks turned pink as all the attention of the party turned to him.

“Uh, yeah,” Finn replied.

“Umm, hello, details! Amanda asked/demanded. She went over and grabbed Santana’s hand to examine the ring closer. “Absolutely gorgeous!”

“He asked me on Christmas day,” Santana said. Santana now looked back fondly at the memories of that day, since Charlotte stood up for her.

The women of the party flocked to see the ring and hear the story, while the gentlemen congratulated Finn but then continued on in their conversation about football, and who they believed was going to the Super bowl this year

**o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o**

Once wedding fever calmed down, the group comingled the sexes once more. Santana managed to get some alone time to give Finn a bit of appreciation for the ring, and all the attention she had just received. They put some music on and put the TV on mute, because the singers on the channel weren’t all that great. This small group was perfect for their little New Year’s Eve festivities. There weren’t too many crazy people, just their small circle of friends. Their party wasn’t out of control, nor were they just sitting on the couch and twiddling their thumbs. They danced a bit, ate some more, drank a little, and generally had a good time.

Soon, the countdown was upon them, and things started to couple up. When the midnight bell rang, and the anthem rang, they all got in a good New Year’s kiss. John even manned up and kissed Amanda, like he had been wanting to do for a while. Overall, a good start to the next chapter of their lives.


	49. Chapter 49

**Chapter 49 – Flu Season**

**February – Spring – Age 20 – Sophomore Year**

February at BGSU brought fun, frivolity, and the flu. Santana managed to stay healthy but the flu claimed its first victim, Finn. It started Sunday morning but his fever got worse as the day progressed. “Sweetie, you’re sweating and really red,” Santana commented. “I’m taking your temperature.”

“I’m fine,” Finn insisted as he delved into a coughing fil. Santana rolled her eyes and went to get their aural thermometer. She put the probe in place and clicked the button. After the beep, she looked at the read out.

“Just as I thought,” she announced. “102.6° F. Go get in bed.”

“I’m taking Charlotte to the store so we can stock up on supplies.”

“Oh,” Finn groaned. It took a while but Finn eventually went to their bedroom Santana gathered supplies she would need for the night before tucking him in for the night.

“Hey Char, Daddy is sick,” she explained to the nearly four year old. “Would you like to go to the store with me, so we can get some the things for Daddy to get better?”

“He sick?” Charlotte asked. Santana nodded. “Can’t you just kiss him to make him better?”

“Well, I would if it were a boo-boo, but your Daddy has the flu, so he’s going to get some medicine to make him feel better.”

“Okay, we go to the store,” Charlotte announced. Santana smiled. They both piled into the SUV and drove the short distance to the drug store. They went through and picked up some basic supplies: tissues, cough drops, and Theraflu. She also picked up some orange juice and some chicken noodle soup. Charlotte was very inquisitive, asking a whole bunch of questions about Finn being sick. Santana happily answered all of them she looked at it like another assignment for her nursing classes. One day she would more than likely have to deal with small children; why not practice on Charlotte.

They got all their stuff home and put away before Santana checked on Finn. He was sound asleep. She gave a sigh of relief before getting out some grapes for her and Charlotte so they could snack while Charlotte watched a movie before bed. Santana got out her laptop and opened her e-mail. Finn was going to be staying home this week, so she needed to let his professors know and schedule pick up of any work. It was going to be a busy week but she felt like she could handle it. After looking at her schedules, Santana figured it out that she would sit up on the classes that Finn had on Tuesdays and Thursdays. She could get a note taker for his two MWF classes. Santana had put a bed rest order on Finn. He was allowed to bathe and stuff, but he was confined to the bedroom. She could do this!

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o**

Friday seemed to both fly by and crawl at the same time. But Santana handled this really well. All of their professors were really cool about Finn being terribly sick, and agreed that he should keep the flu to himself. She audited the classes that she could, and really enjoyed sitting in. But their last classes ended around noon; this was the times she agreed to meet at Finn’s other professor’s office hours. The human behavior professor had a binder waiting for her with copies of class notes and homework assignments. The social work professor has a web link where Finn could see all the notes and a few packets for him to complete. She added to the binder that she had been taking notes in for Advanced Spanish, socialization, and abnormal psychology. All the professors agreed to have all the make-up work due next Friday.

Finn was much more coherent by the time Friday rolled around, his fever had broken Thursday evening. Santana got home with Charlotte around 2 pm, and Finn was sitting on the couch. “Hey Baby! How ya feeling?”

“I feel like I got hit by a truck,” Finn admitted.

“I bet, you’ve been in bed for a week,” Santana chuckled, walking over to kiss his forehead.

“How was this whole week?” he asked, allowing Charlotte to cuddle up to his side on the couch.

“Well, I went to your Tuesday/Thursday classes – loved abnormal psychology by the way, people are crazy – and your social work and human behaviors classes gave me a bunch of work for you from this week.”

“I’m glad they were pretty accommodating,” Finn said. “Thank you so much for this week babe.”

“I did what I had to do, not a big deal,” she shrugged.

“Did Mami do a good job this week?” Finn asked Charlotte. She nodded and giggled. “See, even Char agrees.”

“Well, anyway,” Santana said, blowing off the praise. “All your work is due by next Friday.”

“Good. I’ll really work all weekend to try to get it done.”

“Maybe Amanda can come over and take Charlotte for a few hours so we can get some work done,” Santana suggested.

“You’re the best baby.”


	50. Chapter 50

**Chapter 50: All of Four Years Old**

**March – Sophomore Year – Spring – Age 20**

“I can’t believe my baby is four years old,” Finn said excitedly. Burt and Carol had driven up to their house to stay for the weekend to celebrate Charlotte’s birthday.

“Time sure does fly kid,” Burt commented. “You gotta hold on to these times. They won’t last forever.”

“I feel like it was just yesterday that she was born,” Finn said.

“I know,” Kurt agreed. They flew home yesterday from New York for Spring Break. He and Dave drove up with Carol and Burt.

“Are you sure you guys are okay with the air mattresses? You can always switch to the pull out couch.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Kurt assured him.

“The air mattresse should be fine,” Dave said. “This is a nice place Finn. Much better than our apartment.”

“They do give us some good digs,” Finn replied. “I’ll be sad to leave here when we graduate, but it’ll be good to get a more permanent house that we can really make ours.”

“Am I allowed to help decorate?” Kurt asked.

“To an extent,” Finn hedged Santana would kill him if Kurt took over the process.

“I can deal with that,” Kurt agreed. He got up and went to join Santana in the kitchen.

“How many people are coming tomorrow?” Dave asked.

“She had a few kids she pals around with at the day care,” Finn said. “The ladies gave out five invites and our friends Amanda and John are coming over.”

“And who are they again?”

“John’s in a lot of Tana’s classes, and secretly loves Char,” Finn explained. “And Amanda is in some of my classes and is our baby sitter. Santana is trying to get them together.”

“She can be sneaky like that,” Dave agreed.

“Yeah, but that’s why I love her.”

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

They party was quite a success. Charlotte’s five little friends came over with their parents. John and Amanda made balloon animals and face painted. They had a few cute activities for the kids to do and food and music for the parents. Charlotte got a few new activities, toys, and clothes. She even received cards from the glee kids, some McKinnley staff and the ladies from the church.

All of the activity knocked Charlotte out by eight. But the adults stayed up and ended up watching a Harry Potter movie. It was a little tradition. When they were all together, they watched the next movie; they were on the fourth movie. Dave and Santana were the Harry Potter obsessed duo, but they still enjoyed the movie none-the-less. Moments like this made Finn really appreciate how awesome his little family really was. They were there for each other through thick and thin, and they all were family by choice. **  
**


	51. Chapter 51

**Chapter 51: Crack, boom, Pop!**

**April – Sophomore Year – Age 20**

It was a spring time Saturday afternoon when Santana went out to the store for a few last minute groceries for their dinner that night. Little did she know that an idiot would run a stop sign and plow into the driver’s side of Santana’s car. While neither car was going super-fast, it was quite jarring. The car behind her pulled up and called 911 before checking on both drivers.

“God did that suck!” Santana swore. A young man in army fatigues came over to her.

“Miss, are you okay?”

“I’m pretty sure I’ve got some whip lash, a broken arm,” she replied after a brief self-assessment.

“I’ve already called the ambulance, Miss...”

“Lopez, Santana Lopez,”

“Miss Lopez, I need to check on the other driver; are you going to be alright?”

“Yes, thank you Mister?”

“Lieutenant Joshua Gale, ma’am.”

“Thank you Lieutenant.”

“No problem, please don’t move until the ambulance gets here.”

“I’m just going to call my fiancé.” She gingerly reached over and got her phone, dialing Finn’s number.

“Hey, babe, you forget the grocery list again?” he joked as he answered the phone.

“Finn, I’m fine, but I got into a car accident.”

“Where are you?” he asked.

“I’m about two blocks from the store, and they need to take me to the hospital to get checked out.”

“I’m going to meet you there.”

“They are probably going to need help getting me out of the car, I got hit in the middle bar and my door won’t open at all.”

“How bad are you?”

“Prelim self-diagnosis is a broken arm and whiplash at the very least.”

“My god,” Finn breathed.

“I’m very lucky Finn,” she said. “Can you see if Amanda or John can take Char? Or come stay with her? I don’t want her back in the ER if I can help it.”

“I will call them,” Finn said. “Are there any EMS there yet?”

“A cop car just showed up. I’ll text if I can find out more,” Santana replied.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

**0o0o0o0o0o0o**

Amanda and John both came over to stay with Charlotte and threatened Finn for updates on Santana’s condition. Finn drove carefully to the ER a few blocks from the college. When he parked and went inside, he went directly to the info desk. “My Fiancé Santana Lopez was brought in a little while ago. She was a in a car accident and I am her next of kin.”

“Let me look her up,” the receptionist said. “Olay, she is getting an x-ray, but I will get an orderly to take you back to her bay.”

“Thank you so much,” he replied profusely. The orderly took Finn back to the room with three bed spaces. He was directed to the empty space at the end of the room. He didn’t wait long when Santana’s bed was wheeled back into the rightful spot.

“Baby,” she greeted, holding out her right arm for a hug. Finn tried to hug her tight enough to assuage him but not hurt her at the same time.

“I’m so happy to see you,” he murmured into her ear as they embraced.

“I’m happy,” Santana replied.

“So what have they said?” Finn asked as he pulled back, wiping tears from the corners of his eyes.

“Mild concussion, broken left forearm, whiplash and severe bruising” Santana replied. “They are going to set my arm, watch for swelling, and maybe cast it tonight”

“Why wouldn’t they cast it?” Finn asked, confused.

“It it’s too swollen, I’ll get a splint and comeback to get it casted when the swelling goes down.”

“I hope it gets casted tonight.”

“Well, Sue used to give us tricks to keep the swelling down if we ever got hurt, so I’ll tell them,” Santana assured him.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Santana was released from the hospital later that night. They set her arm, followed Sue’s anti-swelling routine and casted her with a red cast. When Finn drove her home, Burt and Carol were at the house. Apparently when Finn called them to let them know what happened, they dropped everything and drove down. Burt was the first one out and opened the car door for them.

“Sweetheart,” Burt said before gingerly helping her out of the car.

“Poppa Burt,” Santana replied. “I’m okay. I promise.” They all walked into the house. John and Amanda were curled up together on the loveseat. Charlotte was coloring at their feet. They woke from their restless sleep and Amanda shot up to hug Santana as well.

“Thanks for coming over guys,” Finn said gratefully to Amanda and John.

“Of course,” John said. “So is she alright?”

“Mild concussion, some whiplash, and a broken forearm,” Finn rattled off. “It could have been much worse.”

“And her car?”

“They are probably gonna total it. I called the shop they towed it to and they told me the damage,” Finn said. Burt was listening in as well. “The frame has significant damage. They had to take the door off to get her out.”

“I’ll keep an eye out for a good car for her,” Burt said. “Definitely by the end of this semester.”

“Yeah, I’m going to e-mail her teachers and do what they did for me a few months ago. She needs a week of rest and recover. Hospitals even gave us a note for each teacher. I should probably email Charlotte’s child care and tell them what’s going on, and that she will be there for a bit longer than usual.”

“Good deal,” John agreed. “Let me know how I can help.”

“Will do man, will do.”


	52. Chapter 52

**Chapter 52: 2 weeks’ worth of fun and conversations**

**May – Age 20 – between spring and summer semester sophomore year**

“I can’t believe our break is here,” Finn sighed. “Those three or four days between the other semesters are hardly enough to relax.”

“Two weeks certainly is a treat,” Santana agreed.

“Is there anything we need to do?”

“Well, I’m anxious to talk to our counselors – I made an appointment for them to meet us together,” Santana replied. “They both agreed to come over to lunch tomorrow.”

“Really? That’s awful nice of them.”

“I was offering to be nice, but I didn’t expect them to take me up on my offer.”

“I guess it’s a good thing,” Finn reasoned. “They can really see how we’re doing.”

“True,” she agreed.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o**

Mrs. Pershing and Mr. Wronkowski did indeed come over for lunch the next day. They brought binders full of information to go over. “Alright you two,” Mrs. Pershing said. “You’re summer classes are already signed up for. We have created a plan for the next three semesters to see you both graduate in the spring.”

“Really?” Finn questioned.

“As long as you pick up another field study over the summer, which we can arrange, and you two get things all set for the hours we need,” Mr. Wronkowski replied.

“Our schedule is pretty full for the summer,” Santana pointed out. “Are there any weekend placements? Or daycare options if we did our placements during the summer session we don’t have class?”

“The second option would be doable,” he replied. “The day care doesn’t always open in the summer, but if we apply, they will be open. We will work your working hours around theirs.”

“That would definitely work for us,” Finn said. “She actually likes the day care.”

“She looks like such a sweetheart,” Mrs. Pershing commented.

“She really is,” Finn agreed. ”We’re really grateful for her being very accommodating for us to get our degrees.”

“We are very excited to see young people still getting their education, she said. “Don’t worry, we will get everything taken care of and e-mail you the details.”

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

They were watching a movie with Charlotte a few days later and Santana was playing with her engagement ring absently. Finn noticed and couldn’t help but smile; she was going to be his wife. “Hey,” Finn murmured.

“Hmm?”

“Have you thought about when you would like to get married?”

“Well, I don’t like the cold, so no winter wedding, fall can be raining, spring is allergy season, so I think a summer wedding.”

“I can get into that,” Finn said. “Big or small?”

“Well, I don’t think it will be too big. My family isn’t exactly on speaking terms and our friends would be there.”

“Small wedding sounds perfect,” Finn said. “I think a year after we graduate.”

“Get jobs, maybe a house?”

“I think that sounds wonderful.”


	53. Chapter 53

**Chapter 53**

**Wedding Planning**

**June – Sophomore Year/Junior Year – Age 20**

Amanda had offered to take Charlotte out shopping for a little while. This gave Finn and Santana an opportunity to have day time sex. It was such a rarity that they enjoyed every second of their first round. They got to be loud and outside of the bedroom. A while different idea from their typical – stuck in the bedroom, lights off, quiet sex. So to say that they enjoyed themselves being child free would be quite an understatement. Their child free afternoon got them to thinking of a honeymoon.

“So where do you want to go?” Finn asked.

“Somewhere warm and exotic,” she replied, enjoying hearing Finns heartbeat as they lay in bed together. “Thailand?”

“Really? I figured you would want to go to an island or something.”

“That’s too played out,” she said. “I still want to see the world.”

“That certainly would be nice,” Finn mused. “We should totally try to take a trip or two a year. One for the family, and one for just us. You know Mom and Burt would watch Char for us.”

“Mm, now we should start picking a date.”

“Well, we’ll need to get jobs, save up, have a place,” Finn said, working through his mental checklist. “2 years after graduation?”

“I can work with that,” Santana replied leaning up to kiss him.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o**

Santana started her summer session first and was really enjoying her classes: Advanced Pathophysiology, health care aspects with human sexuality and lifespan development psychology. Getting into these upper level classes only further cemented into her mind that she wanted to be a nurse. Her on the job training would allow her to move up to become a surgical nurse. That was the ideal. During these classes, Santana would allow her mind to wander a bit to her future. She pictured walking down the aisle toward Finn in a white dress, laying on a beach on her honeymoon; being pregnant and moving into a real house. It didn’t help when she saw Finn looking up vacation packages in Thailand. Her life was not the same as she thought five years ago but she wasn’t any less satisfied.


	54. Chapter 54

**Chapter 54: Santana to the rescue**

**July – Soph/ Jr year – age 20**

Finn and Santana both agreed that they wouldn’t be setting off fireworks in their back yard this year. Finn was still sporting a burn scar on the back of his neck because of the snafu last year. He had been reading some of the bulletin boards on day and he saw a flyer for an event. They would watch fireworks from the roof of the hospital parking garage. When he showed Santana, she was all for it. They were enough away to not get hurt by the pyrotechnics.

So they would still be celebrating with their friends, but it just wouldn’t be in their back yard. Amanda and John jumped on a night away. They had gotten an apartment together off campus. But they loved being around the family. What really surprised the group was Burt and Carol came out and brought Kurt and Dave. Burt and Dave bear hugged Santana while Kurt and Carol squeezed Finn before they swapped and all descended on Charlotte. They piled into two cars and drove over to the hospital. Charlotte was so excited for fireworks; she was practically bounding out of her skin. They adults were armed with blankets to sit on, and coolers of food and drinks. They hospital had a no alcohol policy do to the location being on the roof, so there would be less danger of falling off.

So they sat, chatted, caught up on each other’s lives, and kept Charlotte entertained. She was firmly planted in Dave’s lap and he was quite happy to see his niece. All was going swimmingly well... until...

“Help! He’s choking!” Santana heard being yelled from a few blankets over. She was up and over there before anyone else could react.

“What is he choking on?” she asked before looking in the man’s mouth but didn’t see the obstruction.

“A hot dog,” the woman replied between tears.

“Sir, I’m going to perform the Heimlich maneuver,” she said calmly, taking up the appropriate position behind the man. She wrapped her arms around his abdomen and began the abdominal thrusts. It took a few thrusts but he did indeed cough up the chunk of hot dog. There was an onlooking crowd by this point and they erupted in cheers when the man was able to breathe again. She did a basic vitals check and determined that he would be alright. They thanked her profusely before she was able to return to their family. “Mami! Daddy said you saved that guy!” Charlotte yelled as she ran over. “That’s so cool!”

“I’m just glad the man is alright,” Santana smiled down at the little girl, and hugged her close.

“You did good,” Finn said, leaning over to give her quite a kiss to show how he thought her skills were hot.

“Mmm. I can appreciate that,” she replied “So who is ready for some fireworks?” Charlotte squealed. Santana was right. The fireworks were about to start.


	55. Chapter 55

**Chapter 55**

**Some Uncomfortable Answers**

**August – Age 20 – Summer – Junior Year**

The college goers had two weeks break before Fall classes start, so they decided to come back to Lima for a visit. Burt and Carol decided to take a week off each, overlapping so they all got enough time, with Charlotte enjoying her grandparent’s attention. Finn and Santana got some regrouping time. This would be their final three semesters and a May Graduation. They would need to start getting things ready to move out of their first home together. They figured totes would be cheaper this time of year and easier than moving boxes, so they headed to Wal-Mart to stock up on what they might need.

Charlotte joined them on this outing because she needed some new clothes. She outgrew things so fast. At this rate, she would be as tall as Finn. Finn was waiting outside the dressing rooms as Santana got Charlotte to try out a new outfit so they could get a size base. It was this about time for Finn that Quinn would show her ugly mug.

“Finn, what are you doing here?” she demanded with no prompting what so ever. She had her hands on her hips, stringy hair falling into her face. It was clear to Finn that she had seen better days.

“Hey Quinn, I’m just clothes shopping for Charlotte,” he replied cordially.

“And you let her in a dressing room by herself? Great parenting!” she scoffed.

It was at this moment, Santana brought Charlotte out of the small dressing room. “Finn do you think this size will be okay, or are the pants too long?” she asked, not looking at Quinn but at the bunchy bottoms of the letting. “Or should we go down a size?”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Quinn exclaimed.

“Quinn,” Santana acknowledged.

“What the fuck!” Quinn yelled. Santana immediately leaned down and covered Charlotte’s ears. “Why the fuck are you in the dressing room with my kid, you whore!?”

“Sweetie, we are going to put back on your other clothes,” Santana said calmly and quietly. They turned and went into the dressing room. Quinn went to charge after them before Finn stepped in between her and her destination.

“Don’t you dare go after my family,” he said lowly.

“It should be my family!” Quinn yelled.

“We already took this to court,” Finn explained. “If you went to the counseling sessions the court set down – and they would let me know if you did – then you could start out with supervised visits. You made the decision not to go, so you cannot have visitation.”

“Sir, is there a problem?” a security officer approached. The dressing room attendant had put a call through on their radio as soon as Quinn began cursing.

“That’s up to her,” Finn said evenly.

“Any problems Miss?” Quinn looked ready to burst. Instead, she stormed off. “Well she’s pleasant.”

“A real delight,” Finn panned. “Thank you for checking on us.”

“No problem,” the officer said. “Picked her up for some shop lifting a few months back. I usually keep an eye if I see her here.”

“Really, shoplifting?” Finn mused. “That’s new.””

“How do you know her?” the man asked.

“It’s my daughter’s biological mother,” Finn said. Santana came out with Charlotte dressed in her clothes once more. “And this is my daughter Charlotte and my fiancé Santana. And I’m Finn.”

“I’m Paul, nice to meet you folks,” he replied, tipping his cap to the ladies.

“She left?” Santana asked.

“Yeah, Paul’s a pretty intimidating dude,” Finn replied, trying not to alarm Charlotte. Santana nodded. They thanked Paul again before paying for their purchases, vowing to finish another day when they weren’t so flustered. They got all the way home to Carol cooking grilled cheese for lunch before Charlotte opened the box.

“Who was that lady? She was mean to Mami?” Charlotte said. Burt and Carol looked confused before Finn cleared things up.

“We ran into Quinn,” he said quietly. “Charlotte, she used to be Mami and Daddy’s friend.”

“But she called me her daughter,” Charlotte said, slightly confused. Sometimes she was too smart – even if it did make Finn proud.

“We all knew this day would come,” Carol said.

“Char, do you remember how we have been talking about different types of families?” She nodded. “Timmy at school has a mommy and daddy, Crystal is black and her parents are white, and Carl has two mommies.”

“Yeah,” she squealed, happy once more. “All families are special no matter how they get there.”

“Smart girl, you remembered,” Finn praised. “We have a different family too.”

“So she is our family?”

“Well, she is your mother – you were a baby in her belly. But she wasn’t ready to be a mommy.”

“She didn’t want me?” Charlotte asked, tears coming to her eyes.

“Oh sweetie,” Finn said, moving to her side and pulling her into a hug. “As soon as I found out about you, I couldn’t imagine life without you.”

“I love you Daddy!”

“I love you so much,” he reassured her. “Now, remember when we talked about how Crystal’s parents picked her out to love and to keep? Well, Santana picked to love you. Since you’ve been just a baby she chose to love.”

“Mami,” Char murmured.

“I wouldn’t give up having you as a daughter for anything,” Santana replied.

“Does you answer that question?”

“Yeah daddy, you and Mami picked me. That lady said no and ran away,” Charlotte said, sniffling.

“For now, yes,” Finn said. “We picked you.” Charlotte curled into Finn and cried. Thankfully it wasn’t long until she tired herself out and fell asleep. He took her up and put her in bed for a nap. “Wow, I wasn’t expecting to deal with this before her fifth birthday.”

“I mean, it was bound to come up, but I wasn’t expecting to be ambushed,” Santana agreed.

“I think you did a great job,” Burt replied. “We started talking about families so we could be ready,” Finn explained.

“One day, when she realizes her Mami is Latina and she isn’t.”

  
  



	56. Chapter 56

**Chapter 56**

**The New Rachel**

**September – Age 21 – Fall, Junior Year**

Finn was ultimately had a short day of Monday-Wednesday-Friday’s. He was on from 8:50 to 1:30 and he was doing all of his upper level social work classes. This was typically when tours came through. They would typically stay in the back of the class and just observe, but not Tiffany Autumn. This was just a girl on a mission.

“Hi everyone, I’m Tiffany Autumn, remember the name because I’m going to be the one to change the face of social work forever,” she announced every class. In addition, she took it upon herself to sit next to Finn in every class.

In Human Judgement, she kept asking questions and answering herself in the same breath. Finn did very well in ignoring her. He really liked this class and wanted to pay attention. During Social work practice 2, she was left to observe Kenny and himself role play scenarios and bounce ideas off each other. When she really did was tell them that of course she had seen this particular scenario before and exactly how she solved it – all while in middle school.

Kenny proposed Finn’s personal scenario, just to see how she would react. She gave this whole spiel over how it’s the mothers choice, and most dads are deadbeats. Her two moms... blah, blah, blah. Finn reclined back in his seat and shook his head ruefully. “Not how this particular case was solved,” Finn said.

“Of course it was,” Tiffany insisted. “The mother is always right.”

Finn got out his phone and showed her the background photo of Santana and Charlotte. “That’s my four and a half year old. I got full custody as soon as I cut the cord. I also won a law suit when her mother – and I use that term loosely – tried to sue me for custody. The mother doesn’t always win,” Finn informed the pesky shadow student.

“Excellent point, Finn,” Mr. Artin announced. “We cannot go into these situations with a bias or a prejudice. We could do more harm than good. We have used Finn’s personal case in other classes but with his permission, I would like to go more in-depth this semester.”

“Of course, if anyone can learn from it, it will help other, by all means.”

From there, the classes changed to Social and Personality Development. She was slightly quieter, still asking questions, but not really going overboard. Finn was relieved. But she was back during General Practice with Large Systems. Tiffany was all about crazy theories about inner city school systems. Finn just took down things his professor said, ignoring her.

After his final class, Finn was father up his bag when tiny Tiffany was standing directly in front of him. “Can I help you?”

“I was wondering if you’d like to go get a coffee or something,” she asked. “I’d love to pick your brain.”

“I’ve got to pick my daughter up from day-care, and my Fiancé has late classes, so I’m on dinner duty,” Finn replied.

“Oh,” she replied, blushing slightly. “Well it was nice to meet you then.”

“You too.”


	57. Chapter 57

**Chapter 57**

**3 whole years**

**October – age 21 – fall – junior year.**

Friday rolled around the week of their 3 year anniversary and Finn was practically giddy. He had it all planned. He left her present on their bed as they left for class in the morning. He got Amanda to babysit. Charlotte was very agreeable to going to their apartment overnight. He came back a bit late from field instruction because he went shopping for her present, not because he had to help out extra.

So when Santana’s class let out, Finn met her at the Day Care. They picked Char up and got home in time for a late lunch. They got a bit of their important work done before Finn sat back and stretched. “Do you want your present now?”

“Present?” Santana’s head snapped up to look at Finn.

“I believe it’s on our bed waiting for you,” he teased. She tore out of the living room and into their bedroom practically cackling. He could hear the ripping of paper and a squeal of delight.

“I love it!” Santana screamed.

“Good, you have to wear it on our date tonight,” Finn replied. “We have 8:30 reservations at that French place just outside of town.”

“Really?

“Happy Anniversary baby,” Santana ran over and launched herself at Finn. He appreciated getting a handful of hot Latina, and pulled her close.

“Mmm, happy anniversary,” she murmured. “What about Char?”

“Amanda and John agreed to keep her overnight,” Finn replied.

“Oh I can’t wait. I’m going to scrub and pamper myself. I’ll be all soft and silky for you,” she teased.

“Ugh,” Finn groaned. “You’re killing me.”

“But you’ll enjoy it later,” she replied.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o**

It was quarter to 8 when they loaded Charlotte in the car and drove the few minutes to Amanda’s place. They walked up a chatted a few minutes. Amanda loved Santana’s little black dress. Finn had really done a good job. They got to the restaurant with ten minutes to spare.

The food was absolutely delicious. They had a seen course meal with some familiar as well as unfamiliar foods. They had goof dun tasting new things and feeding each other.


	58. Chapter 58

**Chapter 58 – Friends Giving**

**November – Age 21 – Fall- Junior Year**

Finn and Santana were excited to be having Thanksgiving at their home this year. Burt and Carol came out to help. John and Amanda came over, Finn’s friend Kenny Ragonese came as well as Santana’s friend Lauren Halley. Carol and Burt brought two card tables so they could have a big table for all their guests.

Santana had quite a bit of food made herself but the others had brought some stuff as well. John and Amanda brought three pies for dessert; Kenny brought rolls; Lauren brought some wine; Carol brought sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, and a pan of bacon Brussel sprouts Santana has a turkey going, stuffing, regular mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and baked mac’n’cheese. There definitely was something for everyone.

Kenny was a new fascination for this holiday, but he was the only black guy. Charlotte didn’t care really; this was just a new person for her to play with. Lauren, Amanda, and Kurt stayed in the kitchen. The men and Carol found whatever they could to sit on and watch the big game. Santana got a nice warm and fuzzy feeling as she watched their extended family.

Her 16 year old self would be teasing and laughing her ass off. Nearly five years of growing up, maturing and essentially becoming a mother has truly done wonders for her. If Santana had kept on her path, she’d probably have dropped out of college and started bartending at Coyote Ugly or something. Now she had a man who loved her, on her way to an awesome career, and college degree, some great friends, and a little girl she loved to pieces. Her life was good.

It was around four pm when everything was done. Food was served and you could hear quite a bit of yummy noises. Laurent eventually joined a conversation with Kurt and Dave about life in New York. She wanted to move there after graduation. Kurt enjoyed chattering about his favorite city. Dave occasionally interjected helpful, realistic tidbits when they applied. Kenny and John were talking about the game. Finn had Burt telling him about how the business was going and his recovery from the heart attack last year. Carol and Amanda were talking about wedding plans.


	59. Chapter 59

**Chapter 59 – Preliminary Adulting**

**December Age 21**

Finn and Santana got their typical week off between Christmas and New Year’s so they packed up and headed to Lima for hopefully some rest and relaxation. There were other things that needed looking into: Jobs. Charlotte was quite happy to stay with Carol and Burt for a while, while her parents went out job hunting. They went to the County Division of Employment to see a list of options. The usually cranky personnel were surprisingly helpful. It shocked them to no end that people were here to actually get help. Santana was given a listing of all the places where nurses were hired – even though she wanted to be a surgical nurse; she needed to know all of her options. Finn’s was a bit more involved because his degree was slightly more versatile. He got all kids of social services jobs, as well as school counselors and therapy positions.

From the employment office, they went to the Division of Youth and Family Services. After making an inquiry at the front desk, they made their way back to a familiar office. Wende Hench was surprised to say the least when she saw who was knocking on her door. “Finn! Santana!” she hugged them both. “You guys are just the interruption that I needed.”

“Well, you were our first real visit of the day,” Finn explained.

“What are you guys doing here?” she asked. “Not another crisis I hope?”

“No, we are out job hunting,” Santana explained.

“No drama since August, and that was only minor,” Finn said. He explained briefly.

“That girl doesn’t know when to quit,” Wende shook her head. “But you’re looking for jobs?”

“Yeah, we graduate in the spring,” Finn replied happily.

“Really? Already?”

“Well, we graduated early,” Santana explained. “And little mamacita will be five in a few months.”

“Good Lord,” Wende exclaimed. “Has it really been that long? It feels like not that long ago that you came in here and she was like four months pregnant.”

“She’s growing up way too fast,” Finn agreed. He whipped out his phone and showed off their Christmas pictures.

“Look how tall she is! You sure she’s only four?”

“She’s definitely going to be taller than me,” Santana laughed.

“And is that a ring I see on your finger? Girl, let me see that.” Santana allowed her hand to be hijacked. “Have you two set a date?”

“Not yet, maybe in a year or so,” Santana replied. “We want to get settled first.”

“Believe me, you’re getting an invite,” Finn said. “I wouldn’t be where I am without you, and Sam. Is she around today?”

“I can text her,” Wende replied. “You are one of my success stories. I wish all my cases could be more like you. Determined, driven, stubborn.”

“I wasn’t that stubborn,” Finn agreed.

“I never said it was a bad thing,” she teased. “It’s gotten you this far. You said you were job hunting?”

“Yeah, I’ll have my degree in social work with a minor in human development and family studies. So I’ll be looking for some place that will hire me.”

“You know I’ll write you a letter of recommendation if you need it,” she replied. “You too Santana.”

“Much appreciated,” Finn replied. There was a knock at the door and Sam popped her head in. “Hey!”

“Finn? Santana?” she greeted in shock “More drama?”

“That’s what I asked,” Wende giggled. “No, they are starting to look for jobs. Graduation is just around the corner.”

“Good Lord,” Sam shook her head. The couple went over some of the same points again showing off the pictures. It was good to see the team that helped him so much to get his family.

Soon it was time to leave and head over to the hospital. Finn knew a lot of the nursing staff due to Carol working there for years. Santana knew a lot of the doctors because her father was a surgeon. The couple felt fortunate that they didn’t run into Mr. Lopez on this visit; they just weren’t up for that. They headed to Breadstix and ended up having lunch with Emma, Will, Shannon, and Sue. All four teachers offered their recommendations for any future employment. Carol met and brought Charlotte since they had a doctor’s appointment for Burt.

“She’s gonna be a basketball player!” Shannon exclaimed. “Look how tall you’ve gotten Junebug.”

“I’m gonna be tall like Daddy,” Charlotte proudly announced.

“That you are darling,” she agreed.

“When’s graduation?” Sue asked.

“May 16th,” Santana said.

“Do you know how many tickets you get?”

“I think we get six each, but people were able to request more last year.”

“I’m sure I speak for the group when I say, get us tickets,” Sue replied.

“Absolutely,” Emma chirped.

“You two are quite a success story,” Will said, with genuine pride.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o**

The rest of their ‘vacation’ consisted of gathering applications for jobs, apartment complexes and relator information in case they wanted to buy a house after they moved back. They were kept busy but they also got to see some of the gleeks who came home for winter break.


	60. Chapter 60

**Chapter 60 the beginning of the end**

**January – age 21 final semester**

This was it their final first day of classes and they were both on edge. They were finishing off their last four or five classes. Finn had five classes: Behavioral Pathology in kids, Integrated Seminar, Developmental Psychopathology, social work practice 3, and general practice in small systems. Santana had a light semester with only four classes: psychology of the workplace, pathopharmacology across the lifespan, moral and ethics, and precepted clinical practicum.

They schlep their stuff and Charlotte’s for the first day of classes. They had begun to explain things are going to be changing. This was their last semester at school. They probably would be going back to where Nana and Poppop lived and she would be able to start kindergarten. She wasn’t too happy to leave her friends, but she was all too happy to be around Nana and Poppop again. But for now, she was able to skip off to the pre-school room and leave Finn and Santana to go off to class.

On their way, the couple stopped at the bulletin board. Graduation information had been posted. There was a time, date, and venue. They were having an outside ceremony in the football arena. There was also a place where they would be contacting to acquire more tickets for the fan club back home to attend their graduation. They got their job applications out; they each filled out like 15, leaving a small letter with each one saying they would be back in the area for Spring Break that if they were considered for a position, they could come interview then. They also filled out the apartment paperwork to see what they could get approved for, as well as some mortgage paperwork. They were covering all of their bases.


	61. Chapter 61

**Chapter 61: Quite A Surprise**

**February – Age 21 – Last Semester**

Finn was really excited. He went out and got a rose for both of his girl and a nice silver bangle for Santana. They were gonna go out for a family dinner at Chilies. Amanda was going out for the night with John. Finn told John about that cool Greek place they liked, and he jumped all over that.

The wait staff at Chilli’s thought Charlotte was adorable. It wasn’t often they had families in for this romantic holiday. Charlotte regaled them with tales of her school’s Valentine’s party. One story involved another child puking because he snuck too many pieces of candy past the allotted four pieces allowed by the staff. At that point, they had to make sure there were no more stories about puke, for fear that the other patrons would get angry at them.

Charlotte was so excited when she got home, it took forever for her to calm down. Charlotte and Santana had a dance party in the living room to all their favorite pop songs. Santana suggested slower and slower songs. In the end, Finn picked up Charlotte, pull Santana in and sang Josh Turner’s “Your Man”. This was just the song that Charlotte needed to finally fall asleep. Finn took her in and put her to bed while Santana waited for Finn in their room.

“Hey baby,” Finn said. “What’s the matter? Are you crying?”

“That was just so sweet,” she snuffled.

“I’ve sung her to sleep plenty,” Finn reasoned. “What’s going on?”

“I’m really fine,” she insisted. Santana patted the bed next to her. Finn went in and sat down; he kissed her gently. “I got you something for Valentine’s day.”

“Yeah? You didn’t have to give me anything.” Santana reached into her bedside table and pulled out a long thin flat box. “You got me a necklace?

“Not exactly,” she chuckled.

Finn carefully opened the small box. There was a look of confusion on his face before he looked up at her for confirmation. “You’re pregnant?”

“I’m pregnant,” she confirmed, smiling. “Hence my being overly emotional.”

“You’re pregnant?!” Finn whisper screamed. He scooped her up and hugged her tight. “How far along are you?”

“10 or 12 weeks,” she replied. “I need to go get everything checked out to be sure.”

“I can’t believe it.”

“So you aren’t mad?”

“Of course not, why would I be mad?”

“Well, we aren’t done college yet, not married...” she trailed off.

“Santana Admira Lopez, I love you, so much. Being able to start a family with you is all I could ever ask for,” Finn said, kneeling on the ground in front of her. “I never have the best timing with these kinds of things anyway.”

“That’s true,” she giggled.

“Oh my god, we have to call Mom and Burt.”

“Thank god it’s only 930,” she replied. “Go ahead.” Finn dialed Burt’s number. It only rang twice before he answered, a worried tone to his voice.

“You two okay? Char?”

“Yeah, everything’s alright,” Finn assured him.

“Oh thank god,” Burt sighed. “Why are you calling us on Valentine’s day? I figured you guys would be busy.”

“We took Charlotte out to dinner earlier. Just got her to bed. But Santana just gave me my present, and we wanted to call you and let you know,” Finn explained.

“You’re valentine’s present?” Burt asked hesitantly.

“Can you put Mom on speaker?” Finn asked. Burt put the call on speaker phone. “Hey, mom, we’ve got something to tell you guys.”

“Is everything okay sweetheart?” Carol asked.

“Everything is great!” Finn assured her.

“But we’re very excited!” Santana piped up.

“What is it?” Burk asked.

“Santana’s pregnant!” Finn exclaimed.

“You are? Oh Sweetie!” Carol cried.

“Yeah,” Santana confirmed. “I found out last week.”

“Do you know how far along you are?”

“Not officially, but about 10-12 weeks.”

“So, sometime in August?”

“I think so. I have a doctor’s appointment next week.”

**0o0o0o0o0o0o**

“I’m scared,” Santana admitted. They were lying there, still breathing heavily from their celebration.

“What are you scared of babe?” Finn asked, rolling on his side to see his fiancé.

“Well, not to sound super cliché, but we aren’t married, we are still in college. No place to live, no jobs. What are we going to do?”

“We’re going to figure it out,” he pulled her in for a kiss. “We can get married as soon as we graduate, or tomorrow for all it matters. We can find an apartment or go back to Mom’s. I’ll get a job. We will be able to handle this, I promise.”

“I hope so,” Santana sighed, rubbing her still flat belly.


	62. Chapter 62

**Chapter 62: A Whole Half a Decade**

**March – Age 21 – Last Semester**

“My baby is five years old,” Finn said proudly as they dropped Charlotte off at day care. All the workers clapped and cheered for the little girl as she came in. They were ready with her birthday crown.

“Happy Birthday Charlotte! You get to be our princess of the day,” the first worker greeted. Charlotte was super excited. Finn was feeling super emotional about how old Charlotte was. He would be graduating with his bachelor’s degree, getting marries, and having a second child. Life was really happening.

**0o0o0o0o0**

Charlotte got to pick where she wanted to have her special birthday dinner – and whether they dined at home or went out. Charlotte wanted her mami’s tacos for dinner so it made for a perfect opportunity for the couple to tell her about the new baby. Santana had gone for her checkup and got a due date of August 13th. Everything checked out healthy so far.

Kurt and Dave were so much fun to tell. They had to wait until their bimonthly skype call to break the news. Kurt was speechless, for once. Dave was the first one to congratulate the couple. Kurt’s first worry was the plans for the wedding. Now they just had to tell Char that she would be a big sister. They did this by buying her a present for her to open. She was pleasantly surprised by a t-shirt. ‘Daddy, what do it says?”

“It says, best big sister”

“I going to be a sister?” she asked, confused.

“Mami has a baby in her belly,” Finn explained.

“There is?” Charlotte was looking at Santana with scrutiny. Her belly was still pretty flat, so it didn’t really look like she was pregnant.

“The baby is really tiny right now, but they are going to grow, and Mami’s belly is going to grow. You’re still going to be able to see the baby grow, and one day you can feel the baby move in Mami’s belly.”

“Can I play with them?”

“Of course you can,” Finn said. “This baby is coming just before Daddy’s birthday, and you will be right there with us. Are you happy?”

“I get a baby!” she yelled.

“I guess that’s our answer,” Santana chuckled, her hand absentmindedly rubbing her still flat belly.


	63. Chapter 63

**Chapter 63: The final Finals**

**April – Age 21 – Final Month**

Finn and Santana were in their final crunch time. They were taking their final set of finals. Santana had to take one more certification test in June, but they were going to graduate soon. Charlotte was happy as a clam, secure in the knowledge that she was gonna be a big sister by the end of the summer.

Santana took her last final and decided to go through the house, purging stuff they weren’t going to take with them. She also went through Charlotte’s clothes to donate all the clothes that didn’t fit her any more, or that wouldn’t fit her by next winter. “You really are nesting,” Finn joked.

“We really need to find a house or something soon.”

“I know. Burt and Mom are talking with a realtor this week. They are gonna look at a few places for us,” Finn replied.

“Thank God,” she sighed. “I’m already starting to show, and I really want to get things set up before the baby comes.”

“I know. I emailed them a list of things to look for: nice yard, in Lima, 3 bedrooms at least 2 baths, maybe room to build on,” Finn reminded her. Carol had already vetoed two houses already and they had three tours lined up for this week.

“So we just need to get this place back to bare bones before we move out in June,” Santana said. “We need to get some moving boxes to see what’s going with us.”

“Yeah, I think wal-mart has collapsible moving boxes, so I’ll go out and puck like 10 or so. Do you think that will be enough?”

“We can start from there,” Santana said. She moved over to where he was leaning against the kitchen counter and snuggled against him. “I wonder when our grades will be in.”

“I think they are all due in two days,” Finn replied. His one arm came around her back and one hand went to there barely there belly. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” she murmured, lowering her hand to rest on his.

**0o0o0o0o0o0**

“Mine are in!” Finn shouted from his laptop at the desk.

“Wait, let me see!” she yelled back from their little laundry room. Santana ran out and looked over his shoulder.

Behavioral Pathology in kids – A – 4.0

Integrated Seminar – A- - 3.8

Developmental Psychopathology – B + - 3.6

Social Work Practice – A – 4.0

General Practice with Small Systems – A – 4.0

“Wow, that’s awesome!” Santana praised.

“Here, I’ll log off and you can check yours,” Finn said, feeling giddy, Santana’s fingers flew across the keyboard as they switched positions.

Psychology of the work place – A – 4.0

Pathopharmacology across the lifespan – A – 4.0

Morals and Ethics – A – 4.0

Precepted Clinical Practicum – A – 4.0

They shared a hi-five as they realized that they pretty much aced their college careers.


	64. Chapter 64

**Chapter 64 – Vitamin C**

**May – Age 21- Graduation**

Graduation day had finally arrived. Their little hose was packed with gusts. Finn and Santana let Charlotte sleep in with them, so Carol and Burt could have her queen sized bed. Dave and Kurt were on one air mattress in the living room. Will and Emma had the other air mattress. Sue was on the couch. Shannon insisted on just going with a sleeping bag. The parental Lopez’s were ignoring all invitations, and –to be honest – Santana didn’t really want them there anyway. It would stress her out and that wasn’t good for the baby.

And speaking of the baby, it was fun to tell their former teachers about the baby. Will still was as skeptical as he was about Charlotte’s announcement. Shannon came right over and picked Finn up in a hug before gently hugging Santana. Sue shook Finn’s had and surprisingly gave Santana a hug. Emma was very happy and asking as many questions as she could.

“We wanted to let you all know that we are going to the court house July first to get married,” Finn said.

“I want to be married before the baby is born,” Santana explained. “We were thinking of having a vow renewal in a few years when we have ourselves more established and save up some money for a bomb ass party.”

“You got this all planned out Lady,” Shannon commented.

“Well, I don’t care how I get married, just as long as I do,” she replied. “I’m graduating college, getting a house, and having another baby. I’ve got enough on my plate, thank you.”

“I think you’re being very smart of you,” Emma praised. “Please let me know when you are making settlement, I will come help you clean.”

“You got it,” Santana chuckled.

**0o0o0o0o**

Finn and Santana were buzzing with excitement as they were called up for their diplomas by ‘school’. Santana’s was called up first. They had to sit through an incredibly boring commencement address. The poetry professor basically told the audience about her recent honeymoon in prose. “Santana Admira Lopez”. There were cheers from their little fan section and a little voice shouting. “Yay Mami!” Her heart swelled as she received her diploma, and a handshake from the dean of the nursing school.

A short while later, the school of psychology, sociology and social work was announced. “Finnegan Christopher Hudson.” Their cheering section was back at it and you could hear Char yell “Go Daddy!”


	65. Chapter 65

**Chapter 65: Epilogue**

**10 years later – August – Age 31**

Finn Hudson had an awesome life. It didn’t’ start out ideally, but he wouldn’t change a thing. He had a loving wife – with whom he had just celebrated a ten year anniversary with last month. He now had three wonderful children: Charlotte was nor nearly 15 ½, Ethan turned 9 two days ago, and Suzanna was going to be 3 next month.

The Ohio Department for Social Services had been his home for the past ten years as well. He well and truly loved his career. Santana worked at Lima General Hospital – and more recently working in the surgical wing. They lived just outside of Lima proper bit still within the sending district to McKinnley, in a four bedroom house. Their life was going great.

It was a gorgeous summer day when their lives would be turned upside down. They were having boys vs. girls’ football game on their front lawn as an old beat up car came and parked out front. Finn immediately went into protective mode. He nodded for Santana to take the kids in the house for a half tine snack. Raggedly blonde woman came out of the car and got a small little girl out of the back seat, with no car seat – he noticed.

“Can I help you Miss?” Finn asked.

“Finn?” the blonde questioned. It took him a minute, but it finally dawned on him. She looked really rough.

“Quinn?” she nodded. “And who is this?”

“This is Harlan,” Quinn introduced. “She’s nearly three.”

“Cutie,” he commented. “So what are you doing here?”

“I didn’t know what else to do,” she admitted. “I can’t take care of her any more. I can barely take care of myself.”

“And her father?”

“I don’t actually know who her daddy is,” she replied, embarrassment spreading pink across her face.

“So you came here?” Finn lead.

“I can’t keep her anymore,” Quinn pleaded. “I know you could give her what I can’t. I saw Charlotte. She looks beautiful.”

“You’re serious?”

“It would be Charlotte’s sister,” she reasoned. “I’m begging you.”

“Stay here, I need to talk to Santana,” Finn said. She nodded. Finn walked into the house to break the news.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o**

With Charlotte enlisted to babysit, once they gave her a brief summary of what was going on. Finn and Santana took the minivan down to Finn’s work, and buckling Harlan into Suzanna’s car seat. Finn had already called Wende to tell her to meet them and call Sam; emergency. When they pulled up, Wende was outside to greet them. Sam was pulling in right behind them.

Wende’s office was their base of operation as the story unfolded. “Ladies, this is Quinn.” Wende and Sam didn’t need any more explanation. “And this is Harlan.”

“Hi Harlan!” Wende greeted. “So what are we doing today?”

“I can’t take care of Harlan like she needs to be,” Quinn confessed. “I know Finn would be able to take care of her.”

“Well, San and I talked it over and even Char gave her input. We are willing,” Finn agreed, lacing his fingers with Santana’s.

“But Quinn,” Santana spoke up. “You need to get some help for yourself.”

“I will, I’m not cut out to be a mother,” Quinn replied. “I really need to turn my life around.”

“That is where I can come in,”Wende interjected.

Now just for clarification, are you asking Finn to foster Harlan until you get your life together? Or do you want a full adoption?”

“I think a full adoption is best,” Quinn said quietly. “I can’t give her what she needs.”

“Alright, I need to draw up a form real quick, giving Finn and Santana guardianship until we can make the adoption papers,” Sam said.

“We can take her home tonight,” Finn said. “But can you bring her stuff over tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” Quinn said. “But it’s not much.”

“That doesn’t matter,” Santana said softly. “She is going to want something familiar.” Quinn nodded. “We need a way to keep in touch with you. Not only us, but this was we can give you updates.”

“I have an e-mail,” she replied. “I go to the library every couple of days to check it.”

‘That will work for now.”

**0o0o0o0o0o**

So when September rolled around, the Hudson’s had 4 children officially. Charlotte was starting her Sophomore year at WMHS. Ethan was in fourth grade. Suzanne and Harlan were both starting pre-school. Quinn went into an intensive 120 day program and was scheduled to move into a half way house an hour away just after she was finished. Finn’s not-so-little family was not exactly how he planned on having one, but nonetheless, he was ecstatic about the way his life turned out.


End file.
